Kingdom Hearts: Xion / Characters

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.

Xion

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

^{Click here to see Xion in her Twilight Town attire}

Voiced by: Risa Uchida (Japanese), Alyson Stoner (358/2 Days, HD 1.5 ReMIX, and III, English), Hayden Panettiere (Birth by Sleep and 3D, English)

Appearances: 358/2 Days | Birth by Sleep | coded | Dream Drop Distance | III | Melody of Memory

"Good-bye, Roxas. See you again. I'm glad...I got to meet you. Oh...and of course, Axel, too. You're both my best friends. Never forget. That's the truth."

Number XIV of the original Organization and Number XIII of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness, introduced in 358/2 Days. A Keyblade wielder unable to remember her past like Roxas, she joins up shortly after him and they quickly become friends. It's later revealed that she's not a true member of Organization XIII or even a Nobody; she's a replica of Sora created from his escaped memories, and acts like a cage for the memories and a "backup" if Roxas or Sora were proved to be worthless to the Organization. Ultimately, Xion learns her existence threatens Roxas's and prevents Sora from waking up, and she decides to trick Roxas into killing her as a way of ruining Xemnas's plans, completely erasing her from all memories… or so it seemed.

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A-H

Action Girl: Whenever she's feeling strong enough... which often comes at Roxas' expense.
Affirmative Action Girl: Xion debuts in Days as the Organization XIII's second female member.
Anti-Villain: To the point where she barely qualifies as a villain. When you get down to it, the biggest danger she poses against the protagonists' goals — and even her own — come from her nature as a replica absorbing more power than she wants and her desire to just exist.
Appearance Is in the Eye of the Beholder: She literally looks different to different people, based on both the memories she's comprised of and the memories of the people looking at her. She appears to have her hood up for anyone when they're first meeting her, even if it appears down for someone else. Roxas, Axel (and, presumably, most of the rest of the Organization), Riku, Naminé, and Xion herself all see her black-haired appearance, although it's implied that Axel at first saw her as Naminé. In the manga, Riku and Naminé also occasionally see her as Kairi, and in the novel adaption, it's implied Riku sees her, very briefly, as Sora when he finds her at the Destiny Islands. ^noteRiku also initially mistakes her for Sora when he dives into Sora's heart at the end of Dream Drop Distance. Xigbar sees Ventus, Xemnas sees Sora, and Saïx sees a faceless puppet.
- By the time of III, when Sora (and by extension Roxas) identify her by name, restoring her memories, she takes the form of the black-haired girl when her hood falls off.
Artificial Human: She's a Replica created by Vexen that was designed to absorb Sora's memories and give Xemnas another Keyblade user to control.
Attack! Attack! Attack!: Her data battle in III has her relentlessly charge after Sora with rapid close-up attacks, complemented with blue light beams which temporarily decrease Sora's max HP if they damage him.
Ax-Crazy: Subverted. When in her transformed final form, she appears to be this, but she's actually feigning it so that Roxas will destroy her and she can return to Sora.
Badass Adorable: Kairi's looks plus Sora's skill. You do the math.
Ball of Light Transformation: In her data bossfight in Re:Mind she will zip around the battlefield in the form of a mote of light before changing back to attack.
Back from the Dead: In III, Xion is restored to become a member of the XIII Seekers of Darkness because the replica body had her heart from the past, though her heart from the present eventually went into the vessel after Roxas through Sora said her name.
Battle Aura: She gets a golden aura of light for her Data Battle in Re:Mind, in this state she has a bar of armor that must be destroyed before she returns to her normal battle phase and will bombard Sora with giant shockwaves of light.
The Berserker: Her emotional instability and lack of finesse leads her to fighting like this. In her Re:Mind data rematch, she is constantly screaming and furiously trying to bash Sora relentlessly with her Keyblade.
Berserk Button: Riku calling her Keyblade a sham provokes her to a furious rage. When she's unable to strike him down for the insult, she's reduced to screaming in impotent anger.
Beta Test Baddie: Not only does she have the Nobodies' standard lack of a heart, she's a replica of Sora made of his memories, and thanks to having those memories, initially believed she lived Sora's life without knowing who Sora was. As the final boss, she makes it look like she plays this straight, even going as far as absorbing Roxas to complete herself, as she was created to do, but she's a subversion in reality — she was acting.
The Blank: Her true, original appearance had no features (implied to be how all replicas start out). Eventually she develops the appearance of Kairi but with black hair, but some people, most notably Saïx, literally never come to see her as anything but a doll.
Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The brunette to Naminé's blonde and Kairi's redhead. Also to Roxas's blond and Axel's redhead.
Boss Remix: "Vector to the Heavens", her final battle theme in Days, is a remix of "Musique pour la tristesse de Xion", also with hints of "Dearly Beloved." Like "The Other Promise," this theme isn't as energetic as one would normally expect from a boss theme; the Limit Cut remix is more reminiscent of the intensity of a typical boss theme.
Boyish Short Hair: It's a warped version of Kairi's first hairstyle: black instead of red, and mirrored.
Break the Cutie: She spends Days growing from a blank shell that speaks in monosyllables to a kind, inquisitive, downright heroic kid in parallel with Roxas. Then come the revelations about what she is and what dangers she poses to her best friends and the worlds as a whole, and her personality takes a turn towards the darker until she feels like she has no choice but to go rogue from the Organization, and worse.
Brought Down to Badass: Able to fight and take out Heartless using elemental magic even after temporarily losing the ability to wield her keyblade. Unfortunately for her, the hearts that Heartless release upon defeat cannot be collected unless a keyblade was used to beat them.
Came Back Strong: When Roxas says her name, she ultimately reclaims her original identity and performs a Heel–Face Turn along with rejoining the Guardians of Light for good after the end of the battle with Saïx. She also seems to regain her old strength, as before this happens she was much weaker and mainly relied on copying Saïx's power, while still having difficulty against rookie Keyblade wielders Kairi and Lea.
Came Back Wrong: In III, with the Seekers having brought her back to fill out their ranks but the replica body has Xion's heart from when she first joined the Organization, which explains why she doesn't fully remember who she was, along with being weaker than she used to be and mainly relying on copying Saïx's power to get by in battle. It takes Roxas through Sora calling her by her name to get her to snap out of it, and it visibly hurts her to do so.
Cessation of Existence: Since she's made of memories and is basically bound to existence by them alone, returning to Sora means getting rid of her only tethers to reality. Remnants of her do exist in Sora's heart, though, and the memories of her aren't destroyed, but hidden in him. Ultimately undone in III when Roxas says her name, causing Lea to also remember her along with Roxas when he returns.
Climax Boss: Big fight with multiple forms and phases? Wraps up a major story arc? Has a Post-Final Boss following her? Check, check, check.
Clone Angst: Not just that she lacks individuality: lots of angst comes from her being not who or what she thought she was and being dangerous to her friends just by existing.
Combat Stilettos: Along with Larxene she's the only other one that has them.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Her fight against Riku is a painfully one sided affair, with it being implied Saïx sent her against him for that exact reason.
The Cutie: Xion is a shy, soft spoken, and adorable sweetheart.
Cuteness Proximity: In the manga, she absolutely melts at the sight of Pluto.
Xion: PUPPY! [Immediately begins to hug and start petting him]
Death Is the Only Option: She knows that if she continues to exist Roxas will fade, so she chooses to force him into killing her instead.
Death Seeker: At least her Data boss self in Re:Mind is, anyway. While the base game doesn't really make a big deal out of her predicament, in her Data battle, she sounds in constant pain even when she isn't being hit, and her quote at the end of the battle, regardless of the outcome, only cements it:
Xion: (if the player beats her) This is how... it's supposed to be...
Xion: (if the player loses) You're going where I belong...
Died in Your Arms Tonight: She dies being held by Roxas.
Disappears into Light: When she dies she turns into crystals which then fade into particles of light.
Distaff Counterpart: To Roxas, since she is the only other Organization XIII member who can wield the Keyblade.
Ditto Fighter: Apparently, her nature as a replica who takes on traits of people near her extends to more than just Roxas or Sora. In III she imitates Saïx's weapon and moves, during the fight against them in the Keyblade Graveyard.
Doomed by Canon: Xion is never seen or mentioned in Kingdom Hearts II despite her important role in Roxas's life with Organization XIII. Roxas has no flashbacks involving Xion, so that hints at Xion being Ret Gone. Explained in-game that as Xion's essence was reabsorbed into Roxas, there was nothing left to remember Xion with. Unlike Roxas and Naminé, she utterly ceases to exist.
Dual Boss: In III, the past version of her fights alongside Saïx until she is replaced by her present self, who helps the Guardians of Light.
Dual Wielding: In her final boss form she wields two swords roughly shaped like the Nobody sigil.
Dying as Yourself: Her appearance before Roxas's battle with her is as Sora, as she is aware, and then she transforms into what looks like armor reminiscent of Sora's appearance during the battle proper. When she dies, the armor is gone, her she's back to looking like black-haired Kairi.
Earn Your Happy Ending: After living out her first life essentially being The Chew Toy and starting her second life as a tool, Xion finally gets her hard-earned happy ending in III when she reunites with Roxas and Lea. She is last seen playing with Naminé, clearly living the life of a normal girl.
Face Death with Dignity: When Naminé basically announces her death sentence before the climax of Days, Xion seems to hold no fear of it, since it is for the greater good.
Fanservice Pack: It's hardly the biggest example in the world, but her bust is slightly larger in III than in previous games, enough to be noticeable at least.
Fighting Your Friend: Seems to be a recurring thing for her in particular among the trio: in total she's forced to fight Roxas and Axel twice each:
- She and Roxas are first tricked by the Organization to see each other as Heartless to eliminate in order to test them and narrow down their shared power to one entity. The second time, Xion challenges Roxas in an attempt at Suicide by Cop so that she can properly return the memories she's made of to Sora and stop putting Roxas in danger.
- She and Axel first fight when Axel is sent to retrieve Xion for the Organization after she's gone rogue looking for answers. The second time is during III, where Axel, now back to his original self Lea, and Kairi fight her and Saïx during the Keyblade War, though neither of them seem to be able to recognize each other until Lea is put in mortal danger. In an egregious act of cruelty, Xemnas tries to order her to kill Lea precisely because he knows she and Axel were friends.
Final Boss: Of Days. While there is one more fight with Riku afterwards, it's far simpler and is only there to lead directly into the prologue of II. Her Superboss incarnation in III is also one of two potential final bosses for the Limitcut DLC episode, alongside Master Xehanort's (both of them, being considerably more super powered than the others, only open after the other eleven data battles have been completed).
Forgotten Fallen Friend: Invoked quite sadly; after Roxas defeats her he can't even remember her name. After she fades away, he and everyone else loses every memory of her.
Gender Bender: Xion identifies as female and for the most part looks it, but she's actually supposed to be a Replica of Sora, created from his leaked memories as a fail-safe for the Organization. Her entire being is constructed from Sora's memories and it's explained that her appearance came from the fact the strongest of those memories at the time of her 'birth' were those Sora had of Kairi, but when she has memory flashbacks she sees them from Sora's point of view. In a dream where she's standing on Destiny Islands with Roxas and Axel, in a scene that's arranged the same way as one with Kairi Sora and Riku, Xion is sitting in Sora's place (with Roxas in Kairi's and Axel in Riku's). She sometimes turns into Sora, Roxas, or Riku in her nightmares, and when enough of Sora's memories make it into Xion's body, her appearance physically changes into that of Sora. Her choice of words after this is revealed make it clear that despite her origins and this transformation, she still identifies as a girl. This is by and large strictly limited to her debut appearance; Xion still roughly has the same physical appearance she's always had in III.
Ghost Memory: During a chunk of Days, she experiences a long period of coma and wakes up knowing Sora's experiences from the first game. The Reveal is that she had unwittingly absorbed Sora's memories that Naminé is trying to reconstruct, effectively halting Sora's memory restoration. The only way to resume it is for Xion to die, therefore transferring the memories back to Sora.
Go Mad from the Revelation: Twice-subverted. She initially resists such a proposition despite the pain she feels, until Xemnas interferes in an attempt to force her to absorb Roxas. Not that he actually succeeded - she's only feigning insanity because she needed Roxas to destroy her artificial body so she could return to Sora, where she (quite lucidly) decided that she belonged.
Go Out with a Smile: She's smiling at Roxas the whole time she's dying in his arms, and remains smiling as she Disappears into Light, happy that she's able to return to Sora.
Grew Beyond Their Programming: The Organization's original plan is for Xion to become their Keyblade wielder backup in case something happens to Roxas. It works out fine. Then she absorbs much of Sora's memories, stopping his memory restoration. Even better; this way, they have one less adversary to deal with. But then Xion develops a distinct personality due to her interaction with her friends. Said personality eventually causes her to search for her origins, culminating in her meeting with Riku and Naminé, resulting in her choice to rejoin Sora rather than serving the Organization any further.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: For most of the missions Roxas has with Xion, she doesn't have access to her keyblade, forcing her to rely on magic to fight heartless. Aside from those moments, they're usually a heavily downplayed example with both being capable warriors of the keyblade at all ranges with Xion's fighting style in her Data Rematch relying more on sending beams of light at Sora from all directions.
Healing Hands: She throws out Cures while fighting alongside Sora and Roxas in III.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: In III she is able to reject the piece of Xehanort's heart that was put inside her out of love for Axel and Roxas and switches sides to fight alongside them.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: Played With. She's a good person who gets shuffled through various plot threads, some against her will. She begins as a member of Organization XIII, which makes her a heel. But when she and Roxas find out that they were Obliviously Evil, she defects to DIZ, who is an Anti-Hero. This makes her a face to the narrative, but she now must oppose Roxas. Then Axel forces her back to Organization XIII, where Xemnas, her heel boss, powers her up to make her a killing machine. This makes her a heel again, but she instead chooses to commit Suicide by Cop to return Roxas’s power, dying in service of DIZ’s goals and ending up Ret-Gone. In Kingdom Hearts III, she's back as a heel. But halfway through her battle with Sora, she defects once again, thus turning fully face as she's now aligned with both the heroes and her morals.
Heel–Face Turn: Switches sides when she is manipulated into working for bad guys and then learns/remembers the truth. Would be a High-Heel–Face Turn if not for Larxene also being one of the unrepentant bad guys each time.
- In Days, she leaves the Organization and ultimately decides to sacrifice herself, to stop Xemnas and the Organization as well as to save Roxas and Sora.
- In III, she is the only member of XIII Seekers of Darkness who defects partway through the final confrontation between them and the Guardians of Light, choosing instead to fight on the side of the Guardians after reuniting with her friends. She is also the only one of the Seekers to survive to the end... Aside from Xigbar, that is.
Heroic BSoD: Not so much on the heroic part due to her allegiance, but she suffered this once she learned what her true nature is.
Heroic Suicide: In order to stop herself from making Roxas disappear she fights Roxas with the intent of being killed by him to save him. Earlier, she had come to the (reluctant) conclusion that she should "return to Sora" to give back the memories of his she'd accidentally been absorbing so he could wake up because it was the right thing for everyone, which would also require giving up her existence. Roxas killing her took care of both.
Holy Hand Grenade: In III, she's able to cast Laser Rain, as a callback to her Pillar of Light attack from her final Days boss encounter.

I-Y

"I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Though they initially don't recognize her, her appearance in III subjects her to this once Sora comes into the picture, as Roxas within Sora is the first person to recognize Xion and reach out to her while she's fighting Sora, Lea and Kairi and under Xehanort's control. Though enough of her old self remains to defend Lea, she lashes out when Sora tries to sway her from the darkness, and it takes Roxas saying her name through him to snap her out of it.
Involuntary Shapeshifter: In a sense. She's always humanoid but because she's made up of memories, she looks different depending on who is looking at her. And even for those who typically see her a particular way most of the time, her appearance may involuntarily change if she is being overwhelmed by certain memories. She started out as a featureless doll, but gains the unique appearance of a black-haired Kairi. She once hallucinates herself as Roxas shifting into Riku shifting into Sora, and on two occasions completely takes on the appearance of Sora when she absorbs too many of his memories. Xigbar at one point sees her as Ventus.
Irony: Saïx's infamous My Friends... and Zoidberg line about her in Days takes on a bit of this come III. Not only is Xion chosen as a Seeker over half of the original Organization and backups like Demyx and Vexen, but she even uses her nature as a replica, the very thing that made Saïx belittle her, to copy Saïx's own powers while fighting alongside him.
"It" Is Dehumanizing: Referred to such by Saïx, who is among those who see her as The Blank. Roxas and Axel do not take kindly to this.
Kill the Cutie: She dies in Roxas' arms in order to keep him from fading and return to Sora to give back the memories of his.
Knight of Cerebus: Xion is a very rare non-villainous example of this trope. Her presence in Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, the attachment to her from Roxas and Axel as well as the player followed by the crushing despair upon her fate at the end of the game permanently sets the darker tone for the following games in the Kingdom Hearts series.
Leitmotif: "Musique pour la tristesse de Xion".
Lethal Chef: In the Days manga, she cooks food for Pluto that looks like it would melt your stomach.
Light 'em Up: As she was created to copy Roxas, she has the same abilities as him, including the use of light powers.
Light Is Good: She sacrifices herself for what's right.
Light Is Not Good: As an Organization member she started out this way.
Limit Break: Event Horizon, just like Roxas.
Living Memory: She is Roxas's clone made entirely of Sora's memories.
Loophole Abuse: This is how she’s ultimately brought back from the dead. While everyone’s memories of Xion faded, Vexen’s records of No. I’s creation still existed and could be used to recreate her.
The Lost Lenore: While Xion is doomed to be forgotten by the people who knew her, the memories don't completely disappear immediately after her death and Roxas mourns her terribly, to the point of basically going on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the Organization and anyone who stands in his way while clinging onto the tendrils of memories that he still has of her. Despite her being 'forgotten', 3D has Sora shed a tear when he sees Xion's face in a dream. Early on in III it's shown that Lea will stare at Kairi because he feels like he's forgotten something important, signaling that the loss of Xion (who is facially identical to Kairi) is subconsciously felt by him, with the feelings at one point even bringing him to tears.
Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: She was created by Vexen and her standard appearance resembles a black-haired Kairi. Do the math.
Magikarp Power: Invoked. She's a fairly weak fighter at first and has to be supported a lot on missions. However, it turns out this is intentional, as Xion is designed to grow stronger through absorbing memories of Sora from Roxas, which in turn makes Roxas weaker. This is why in later missions she's more useful, but Roxas in turn is weaker.
Maximum HP Reduction: The main gimmick of her battle in Re:Mind is that her blue beams will reduce Sora's max HP which can only be restored with items or time.
Meaningful Name: Nomura himself stated he liked the name instantly because of its many meanings. This means it has a shitload of meanings:
- She's named after a flower (shion) that symbolizes remembrance.
- The anagram of No. i, an imaginary number, which gets lampshaded in Re:Mind. No. i could also be seen as No. I (number one), demonstrating that she's Vexen's first (and faulty) experimental clone, or as "No I" (no one), referring to her lack of true identity and the Organization's view of her as merely a tool.
- "Xion" is pronounced as "Shion", which is a real name in Japanese and is in fact a unisex name, with Xion turning out to be an Opposite-Sex Clone. Shio, Japanese for "tide," is a nod to the likes of Kairi, Naminé, and Aqua. The aspect of the tide being pulled by the moon gains significance in III, where not only does Xion fight alongside Saïx on the side of darkness while having copied his weapon and berserker abilities, Saïx is implied in the Secret Reports to have had a hand in helping bring Replica vessels to Nobodies on Sora's side, including Xion. Shi is also the normal Japanese pronunciation for "Four", and she's the fourteenth member, essentially making her name Foreshadowing for her eventual outcome as well as also her connection to Vexen, Number IV of the Organization, who is revealed to be her creator.
- As an unofficial name still said in the canon, Xigbar frequently refers to Xion as "Poppet," cluing in to the fact that she is not so much a Nobody as she is a puppet.
Mind Screw: The true nature of Xion is rather confusing, especially the validity of the aforementioned Gender Bender.
Mix-and-Match Man: Xion is an imperfect replica whose identity was dictated by Sora's memories through Roxas, but due to the inconsistency of which memories they are, she's taken on traits of Sora and his friends. Her dominant appearance is nearly identical to Kairi due to the initial memories creating her were mainly Sora's memories of Kairi. She wields a Kingdom Key, the same as Sora, and physically turns into Sora if she absorbs too many of his memories. She turns into Riku in one of her nightmares, and when she vanishes back into Roxas, he gains the ability to wield Oblivion, which originally represented Sora's relationship with Riku. The Novelization of Days even implies that Xion had started to absorb fragments of Riku's memories during the time that she was getting advice from him. Then there's the fact that Xigbar uniquely sees Ventus when he looks at her, and in III she's able to take on the abilities of Saïx when fighting alongside him.
Moveset Clone: She has the exact same stats, Combos, Limit Break (and Final Limit), and weapons as Roxas in 358/2 Days. The only gameplay difference between them is that she lacks the Dual Wielding mechanic. Similarly, her data boss fight in Re:Mind is based on Roxas's battle from Final Mix, but she has a few of her moves from her boss battle in 358/2 Days to mix it up.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Has four arms in the 3rd phase of her boss fight in 358/2 Days with each limb holding a curved sword presumably as a result of Sora's memories of fighting Kurt Zisa in Agrabah.
Multi-Stage Battle: For her fight, the first three stages all take place in locations of keyholes Sora locked in the first game until the final stage which is instead the front of the Clock Tower where Sora would later open the world's gate in II.
My Friends... and Zoidberg: She's a rare, non-comedic example of this trope. As the story goes on, it's shown she's nothing more than a puppet for Xemnas, not even a real Nobody, and Saïx reveals that she was never even part of the Organization.
Saïx, to Roxas: "A puppet couldn't be part of the Organization. Just count the seats here. We have and always will be thirteen."
Nice Girl: Xion is without a doubt one of the most kindest and selfless chacters in the Kingdom Hearts series. She always puts her friends before her self, and has a strong sense of justice and generosity, willingly sacrificing herself to join with Sora. Like Aqua, Kairi, and Naminé, Xion fights passionately to protect those she has come to care for. Her love for her friends is ultimately what drives her as she wants nothing more then to spend the rest of her life with them, and if she can't have that she can at least make sure that they are able to live happly.. It is best summed up by her diary entry in the secret reports from Days
Xion diary entry: "I love Roxas and Axel. I'm sure Saïx would scoff at that. Call it a trick of my artificial memories. But the time I spent on that clock tower was real. I wish the three of us could stay together, just like this, forever. But I have to end this. I'll never forget today's sunset. Even if Roxas and Axel do, I won't forget."
No Biological Sex: Being a Replica whose Appearance Is in the Eye of the Beholder, Xion does not have a gender in the physical sense, though constantly spending time with Roxas (who sees her as a black haired Kairi) causes her to identify as female.
Obfuscating Insanity: She appears to go berserk and tries to kill Roxas at the end of Days, but this is an act so that Roxas will fight for his life and kill her instead.
One-Winged Angel: When Xion fights Roxas at the end of 358/2 Days, she takes on a form that resembles Keyblade armor arranged in the shape of Sora's silhouette with Nobody motifs. There are four stages to this, each with its own set of weapons, and with her final form being enormous.
Opposite-Sex Clone: She's a replica created from Sora's memories, but typically manifests as Kairi because the latter made up Sora's strongest memories when Xion was first 'born'. During occasions where she gets overwhelmed by those memories her appearance turns into that of Sora himself.
Paradox Person: She is an Artificial Human created from Sora's memories and is meant to be a clone and replacement of Sora's Nobody, Roxas. Because of her relationship with Roxas, she unwittingly absorbs Sora's memories, causing her to grow stronger and essentially become a person, but making both Sora and Roxas weaker. When she perishes, she is Ret Goned. Or so we think. It turns out that replicas, like Nobodies and other intelligent beings who lack hearts, are capable of growing them given time. Xion did, so when the heart is returned to her, everyone remembers her again.
The Paragon: For Roxas and Axel, though the latter wasn't very receptive. She's ultimately the most heroic of the trio.
Parental Favoritism: The Secret Reports in Days show that Xion (or No. i, at the time) was selected over the replica model that became Riku's replica by Vexen, who deemed No. i to be his greatest creation and can be seen grinning when Xemnas is introducing Xion to the rest of the Organization. Not that it matters much since Vexen perished soon after.
Personality Powers: Double subverted; much like Roxas, she's a bit more melancholic than you'd expect of a Light user, but she does have brighter aspects of her personality. Also, she (like Roxas) does seem to be one of the nicer members.
Pillar of Light:
- She shares Roxas's Event Horizon Limit Break in in Days where she will shoot radial pillars of light for the second stage of the limit.
- One of her most powerful attacks in her final battle in Days is raining down a series of light pillars over the battlefield, or summoning one massive column directly in the center. She gains a variant of the former as an attack spell when she fights alongside Sora and Roxas in III.
- Her data battle will have her summon pillars of light with nearly every attack in Re:Mind.
Platonic Declaration of Love: When Xion makes the decision to sacrifice her existence to awaken Sora, she explicitly writes that she loves Roxas and Axel in her diary, declaring that she won't forget her time with them, even if they do.
Power Copying: She can wield a Keyblade as a result of copying Roxas's. Taken to an extreme in III, as when fighting alongside Saïx she learns to clone his claymore to attack too, though she ditches it after her Heel–Face Turn. Additionally, her Keyblade is given its own identifier in this game as the 'Replica Kingdom Key'.
Power Floats: She just levitates in place in her final form.
Power Parasite: She can absorb others as part of being a replica, with Roxas and Sora being the main victims. In her case, though, it's a passive effect and completely involuntary. This is a major factor in her decision to pull a Suicide by Cop.
- Weaponizes this in her Data rematch in Re:Mind with light beams capable of reducing your max HP.
Really Dead Montage: Right at the end of Days, when she disappears while everyone forgets her, and everything about her stops existing, before Roxas forgets her, a brief flashback of her turning to him and smiling is shown. After a bit, one of his memories of her and the other protagonist (Axel) of eating ice cream shows up, the three of them having fun. Then the same scene appears again, while Xion fades away.
Remember the New Guy?: She shows up abruptly in 358/2 Days where she is Number XIV in a group previously established in II to be named Organization XIII, becomes Roxas's and Axel's best friend when they don't mention her at all in II, and is revealed to be a Keyblade-wielder who looks like Kairi and whose appearance shocks Riku. Like Naminé in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Xion is a deconstruction of this trope, in this case with the reveal that we didn't hear about her from any of the characters in II because she died and was erased from everyone's memories.
Replacement Goldfish:
- Xion was basically created to serve this purpose, as a potential backup or replacement for Roxas in the event the Organization couldn't control him. She also, along with Roxas, starts to be accused of being this to Axel by Saïx, who shows extreme disdain for them due to Axel developing a close friendship with them while Saïx's own relationship with Axel becomes increasingly strained. Xion bears the strongest brunt of this, however, as Saïx's literal inability to see her as anything but a featureless puppet (proof of his failure to acknowledge her as an individual) lead Saïx to scathingly refer to any emotions regarding Xion as 'make-believe'.
- Xion ends up serving this role again for the XIII Seekers of Darkness after their plan to possess Sora failed. The Re:Mind DLC reveals that Saïx, who at this point is trying to atone for his mistakes, suggests that they reconstruct No. i from Vexen's research data in order to fill out their ranks and fulfil their Sora requirement due to her relationship to him.
Ret-Gone: Subverted. Since she was made of memories, her death meant the death of her memory. When she was absorbed into Roxas, everyone forgot that she ever existed... for awhile. She begins making cameo appearances in Re:Coded and Dream Drop Distance, with Riku and Sora both meeting her for long enough to get a good look at her face during the latter. Sora even seems to gain Roxas's memories of Days in full, including Xion, and it's implied that Lea has Wistful Amnesia about her when he looks at Kairi. When Xion returns in III, Lea and Roxas end up remembering her.
Sailor Earth: Xion is introduced as Organization XIII's newest member Number XIV, continues the "three friends" pattern of the series by being best friends with Roxas and Axel, and is a Kairi-lookalike who has Ship Tease with Sora's lookalike Roxas. On paper she sounds like she's a character straight out of an early 2000's fanfic, but it is revealed to be an intentional — and very sinister — example In-Universe: Xion is in fact not a true member of the Organization but a Replica created to drain the power and life out of Roxas so she could replace him as a more easily managed Keyblade-wielder Xemnas could reprogram as he wished. It's for this reason that she and Roxas are partnered up on the early missions that spark their friendship, to encourage her to latch onto him and begin copying his power. As a Replica, she was an outsider among the rest of the Organization, only viewed as a puppet by the higher-ups and never as a true member; because of this, she is never given a throne of her own in the Round Room, a Red Baron title, her own special type of Nobodies to control, or even her own Proof of Existence like all the other members do.
Screaming Warrior: During her Data Rematch in Limit Cut, she'll actually start roaring during some of her more destructive attacks.
Sizeshifter: After donning the Sora-like armor, she becomes noticeably larger than Roxas and gets bigger with every next phase of the fight until she's as tall as the Twilight Town Clock Tower.
Shapeshifter Default Form: The games explain her true form is her appearance as a black-haired Kairi while all of her other appearances are merely illusions caused by memory.
Shapeshifter Swan Song: An odd example: as a replica of Sora made to copy his powers, her various forms are all influenced by him one way or another. In her final boss form, this manifests as her taking the form of a Sora made of armor, and using all his signature abilities from prior games.
She Cleans Up Nicely: At the very end of III when the danger's finally passed, Xion's able to rid herself of the Organization coat and wears a black and white blouse and skirt that takes a few cues from Kairi and Naminé.
Ship Tease: With Roxas in Days. She fulfills pretty much every aspect that would make her look like Roxas's love interest in any other work, but because they can't feel anything due to being Nobodies and are way too innocent to even know what love is, it's unclear if their friendship is supposed to involve the start of romantic feelings or not. It's worth noting they don't show anything overtly romantic between them in III and more focus is given instead to their friendship with each other and Axel. It's really connecting outside materials (whose canonicity is questionable) that takes the subtext further. In the manga, for example, Xion says holding Roxas' Keyblade feels like she's holding his hand and one of the two saying can you imagine us doing anything other than eat ice cream - cue both of them giving each other awkward stares. The Days novel has Roxas saying Xion is "the girl he treasures" and the narration says his bond with Xion ended up being the same bond Sora has with Kairi.
Significant Anagram: Of "No. i", her designation as part of the Replica Program.
Someone Has to Die: With Roxas (and in conjunction, Sora). Both of them are unable to coexist stably because Xion is built to keep draining Roxas's power, which will eventually make him fade away.
Spanner in the Works: Her actions ultimately bring about the end of the original Organization XIII. By choosing to die rather than continue serving the Organization, she not only prevents them from using her to collect hearts but also allows Naminé to resume restoring Sora's memories, enabling him to wake up. And by announcing her plans to Roxas — even if he forgets her afterward — it solidifies his defection from the Organization, leaving them with no Keyblade wielder they can control.
Split-Personality Merge: A Replica of Roxas that ends up absorbing Sora's memories, Xion lets herself be absorbed into Roxas's heart when she dies, returning the power she'd accidentally taken from him, and then gets absorbed into Sora's heart alongside Roxas when the latter returns to him, returning Sora's memories back to their rightful owner. While Roxas was initially resistant to fusing with Sora and appeared more several times after the initial fusion, Xion accepted her fate as necessary and apart from briefly telepathically communicating with Riku and Roxas at the end of Days she doesn't show up as an individual again until a dream version of her appears in Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance].
Suicide by Cop: Her Final Boss amounts to this, with the "Cop" being Roxas.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: As a Seeker of Darkness. It's hard to tell since she spends all of her screentime as a vessel with her hood up, but she does have them. Regaining her present-day heart from Sora ejected Xehanort's heart as well as the past version of her heart, turning her eyes back to normal.
Sword Plant: When in her light aura phase in Re:Mind she will attack almost exclusively by stabbing her keyblade into the ground, generating shockwaves of light magic.
Theme Naming: Her part in the "girls related to Kairi" group is shio for tide.
There Is Another: Invoked. Her whole purpose was to be a backup plan in case the Organization couldn't control Roxas. She gets hit with this again when the Seekers of Darkness need a thirteenth member and their plan to use Sora failed, so they opt to recreate Xion as an Emotionless Girl and use her as a vessel for Xehanort's heart instead. Luckily this blows up in their faces when it leads to her friends remembering her again and her subsequently finding the strength to shake off Xehanort's influence and turn against the Seekers out of The Power of Friendship.
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: During her boss battle alongside Saïx, one of her primary attacks is to throw her Keyblade at you or Kairi. This attack is carried over as her most basic attack for her data rematch in Re:Mind.
Token Good Teammate: To the XIII Seekers in III as she is only serving them because the replica body has her heart from the time when she first joined the Organization.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: She dies in Days as the first member who openly tries to rebel against Xemnas. Subverted in III when the XIII Seekers of Darkness are able to bring her back to join them as a reluctant member, mainly because the replica body has her heart from the past.
Took a Level in Badass: Begins working for the Organization with only a couple basic low-level elemental magic spells as her means of offense. She soon learns that she can wield the keyblade, granting her access to powerful light-based powers like Roxas and significantly increasing her utility to the Organization. Even after she temporarily loses the keyblade, she's using noticeably more powerful and varied magic spells than the last time Roxas fought alongside her.
- Eventually revealed to be a deconstruction since the only reason she's getting stronger fighting with the keyblade is because she's draining energy from Roxas. She's later personally altered by Xemnas himself to defeat Roxas and absorb him completely while aided by specially placed Organization devices in various worlds to enhance her strength, resulting in a climactic Sequential Boss Fight.
Transferable Memory: She's made of them.
Two Guys and a Girl: The girl to her two guy friends, Roxas and Axel.
Unskilled, but Strong: On her own terms, Xion has great power but noticably lacks finesse in her swordplay. One of her phase intervals in the Re:Mind rematch has her running at Sora in an Unstoppable Rage wildly flailing around her Keyblade with one hand.
Walking Spoiler: Everything about her is just one big spoiler.
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: She gets hit with this trope twice as hard as Roxas. She discovered in the middle of Days that she was a replica designed to copy Sora's powers through Roxas. Then she learned from Naminé her memories don't belong to her and that she's just a bunch of Sora's memories of Kairi. The treatment of the Organization members (who themselves angst over their technical non-human status) to her is downright dehumanizing, outright calling her a puppet (save Axel and Roxas, maybe Demyx and Luxord) and never considered her to be a part of them.
Water Is Womanly: Xion is the female of the Clock Tower Trio and a Replica who mostly takes after Kairi's persona. Her name is pronounced "shee-on"; shio in Japanese means "tide". A recurring dream that Xion experiences throughout the game is her drowning inside seawater.
Younger Than They Look: She looks like a young teenager to most people, but really, she's just under a year old by the time of her death.

"As long as we remember each other... right? Don't worry, Axel—we got your hokey speech memorized."

Characters / Kingdom Hearts: Xion

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.

Xion

Voiced by: Risa Uchida (Japanese), Alyson Stoner (358/2 Days, HD 1.5 ReMIX, and III, English), Hayden Panettiere (Birth by Sleep and 3D, English)

Appearances: 358/2 Days | Birth by Sleep | coded | Dream Drop Distance | III | Melody of Memory

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Characters / Kingdom Hearts: Xion

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.

Xion

Voiced by: Risa Uchida (Japanese), Alyson Stoner (358/2 Days, HD 1.5 ReMIX, and III, English), Hayden Panettiere (Birth by Sleep and 3D, English)

Appearances: 358/2 Days | Birth by Sleep | coded | Dream Drop Distance | III | Melody of Memory

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