Characters / Kingdom Hearts: Axel

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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Axel, The Flurry of Dancing Flames (Original Name: Lea)

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

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

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

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

Organization XIII's 8th member and the only one to survive Chain of Memories. Days reveals his Other's name to have been Lea, and then Birth by Sleep reveals that he was best friends with Isa, Saïx's Other. He appears regularly in Kingdom Hearts II, striving to bring Roxas out of the fake Twilight Town, and later pulling a Heel–Face Turn and helping Sora on his quest. However, he ends up pulling a Heroic Sacrifice to save Sora at the end of the game. In Dream Drop Distance, Axel is revived as Lea, his original self and helps Riku and Sora throughout the story. Towards the end of the game, it is revealed that Lea has gained the ability to wield his own Keyblade.

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Tropes that apply to Axel

• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the KH2 manga and novels. An example being his final fight with Roxas, where he is still trying to get through to him in the manga and intends to burning the mansion down to be Together in Death with him in the novels, while he is fully committed to straight-up killing him in the game.
  • Another case is his kidnapping of Kairi, where they actually bond and begin to cooperate with each other before Saïx kidnaps her from him, and Axel becomes wounded trying to save her. In the game, this did not happen as Axel says Kairi "got away from him" before being caught by Saïx, and Kairi is initially wary of Axel when he comes back as Lea which shows no bond was ever developed between them and he never tried to rescue her.
• Adaptational Villainy: A minor case. While he always expressed the intent to kill Namine to get to Marluxia in their confrontation, in the manga, he's more eager to do so and actually gets a successful attack on them.
• Affably Evil: Although he initially he started off as Faux Affably Evil as listed below he developed into this over time thanks to his friendship with Roxas and Xion.
• Anime Hair: Usual for the series, but his is a particularly bad case. So much so that former Grump Barry Kramer cites it as the sole reason Axel survives Castle Oblivion.
• Anti-Villain: Introduced as a ruthless and manipulative bastard in Chain of Memories, but mellowed out in his subsequent appearances, as he becomes fast friends with Roxas and Xion. His sacrifice helps him complete the change to full-blown hero when he returns as Lea as of 3D.
• Ascended Extra: He got an extended role in II after his role in Chain of Memories was popularly received, though he still ended up dying in that game.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: While it's pretty obvious what powers he has based on his Elemental Hair Colors, that same spiky mass of wild, red hair combined with those inverted tear-drop markings below his eyes give him a vaguely clown-like appearance. Fitting for a guy who tends towards quips even in the most dire or tragic of circumstances.
• Awful Truth: Axel became concerned enough about how often Xion fainted and how badly Saïx treated her that he started grilling Saïx for an explanation. Axel's inquiring eventually led him to discover what Xion really is, and the information weighed extremely heavy on his mind thereafter.
• Ax-Crazy: Like Larxene, he pretended to enjoy hurting others and also flashed a wide grin at such moments. He carried out a series of betrayals throughout the series and killed several of his allies ruthlessly for his own motives and sometimes just for his personal enjoyment.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: He finishes off Vexen and arranges Zexion's death at the hands of the Riku Replica.
• Becoming the Mask: Reading the secret reports in Days reveal that Axel's initial promise of friendship to Roxas was a lie and that he didn't really feel anything toward him (even down to him initially hating sea-salt ice cream, as revealed in the opening scenes of Days in 1.5). But when he was getting ready to go to Castle Oblivion, he is surprised to realize that he's actually going to miss hanging out with Roxas, which makes him deeply curious in Sora's heart. After he comes back from the events at Castle Oblivion, he became a real friend to Roxas.
• Big Brother Instinct: Towards Roxas and Xion. He becomes very protective over the two of them after they form a friendship. This is also his driving motivation from the middle of 358/2 through KHII, after he started essentially raising Roxas and acting as a surrogate parent. Of course, a lot of this has more to do with himself than with Roxas until toward the end.
• Big Brother Mentor: To Roxas, and a slightly lesser extent Xion. His influence is a major part of how their personalities developed (or how they gained them in the first place) and he helps them out with a lot of the problems they run into because "that's what friends do".
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The Redhead to Roxas's blond and Xion's brunette.
• Bound and Gagged: In the manga adaptation, Axel is mistaken as a pirate by the Lost Boys and tied to a tree along with Roxas. They are both cleared by Tinker Bell, since they were with her.
• The Caretaker: Axel fulfills this role toward Roxas in Days after he is assigned to mentor the younger Nobody who recently joined Organization XIII. After Roxas befriends Xion and starts hanging out with her, Axel also becomes her caretaker as well. Axel eventually becomes obsessed with keeping Roxas and Xion as his friends, he lies to them, does questionable stuff behind their backs, and if they try to leave the Organization of their own free will, he attempts to bring them back by force. Following Xion's death, Axel is the only member of the Organization to miss Roxas when the latter defects. And in II, Axel's dying wish was to see Roxas again.
• Changed My Mind, Kid: Axel reluctantly allowed Xion to flee the organization when it was becoming dangerous for her to be around Roxas. Later on however, Axel goes after Xion anyway. While it's technically because he's been ordered to do so, he also makes it a point to let Xion know that it's also because he doesn't want her to sacrifice her life, which is what she intends to do.
• Character Catchphrase: "Got it memorized?", originally translated in the original version of Chain of Memories as "Commit it to memory."
  • He has another one, albeit less used, Why do I always get stuck with the icky jobs?
• Character Development: Its pathway is rocky, but Axel goes through quite a bit of character development. In Chain of Memories he was a callous, manipulative jerk, but after interacting with Sora it's noted in Days that his personality became more cheerful and friendly, and he also behaved a lot more genuinely too rather than putting on an act. Another example is his ability to see the humanity in others, something he himself takes note of: Axel didn't originally think of replica's as worthy of any compassion or consideration. Later on however, he realizes that learning that Xion is a replica after befriending her didn't change the fact he still saw her as a friend. A secret report shows that this also led Axel to look back, recognize, and feel guilt for how horribly he treated Riku-Replica, and how he could never treat Xion in such a manner. He relapses in his manipulative ways when he starts to fear he will lose Roxas and Xion, but in the end it's no question that his capacity to care has stuck, and ultimately he goes back to being genuine when he performs a Heroic Sacrifice for Sora and his humanity is restored.
• Characterization Marches On: Despite some development as noted directly above, his characterization is still WILDLY inconsistent between Chain of Memories and all later entries. For someone who claims disgust with the fact he always got stuck doing the "icky jobs", he seemed all too content with murdering Vexen and Zexion, and had absolutely no qualms cutting down a little girl (Naminé) to get to Marluxia. Not to mention the fact he had a reputation of being a "Fixer" for the Organization inherently implies that he was very good at doing these "icky jobs" and didn't have qualms following them through. One possible explanation is via the eventual revelation that Nobodies will actually regrow their hearts over time, meaning that during the events of Chain of Memories he was essentially a sociopath. However, towards the end of that game he comments that he's actually enjoying himself, foreshadowing that he was starting to regain his heart. Continuing into Days, Axel solidly begins regaining his humanity after befriending Roxas and Xion, so by the time Axel's ordered to retrieve Xion for the Organization's purposes, his capacity to feel has changed profoundly.
• The Chessmaster: He outwitted two scientists, two conspirators, and also the protagonists, and all that without breaking a single sweat.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Zig-zagged all over the place. Long story short, he goes from being co-conspirators with Saïx in the Organization to ditching that and the Organization itself to help out Sora. Beneath that, though, he's got layers upon layers of loyalties, in parts due to his assignment as The Mole during the Castle Oblivion and his own tendency to put his priorities before the Organization, with things getting even more complicated when different priorities of his begin to clash with one another (such as his friendship with Roxas and his own survival). In fact, he spends so much time flitting between different sides that he ends up breaking everyone's trust at one time or another to varying degrees, even his own friends.
• Combat Pragmatist: Doesn't step in to take out Vexen as ordered until after he had just received a beatdown from Sora. In II, he kicks off his boss fight by setting the floor of the arena on fire and deal unavoidable damage, draining your health over time. The Overtaker and Clear Light Reaction Commands will remove the flaming floor, but after a while he'll just ignite it again.
• Compressed Hair: How does that fit under his hood?
• Conflicting Loyalty: Although he apparently suffers from Chronic Backstabbing Disorder and has no issues with being a Double Reverse Quadruple Agent when necessary, he's shown some capacity to be conflicted in which side to stick with:
  • In Days, Axel's friendship with Roxas and Xion conflicts with his orders by the Organization to "let things run their natural course". Even his friendship with the pair suffers from this trope, as he comes to realize that only one of them can survive, and one of them has to perish to ensure the survival of the other. He spends a large portion of the game perilously trying to balance his loyalties, switching back and forth between doing things that help or hinder Roxas, Xion, or the Organization. By the end of the game, Axel has decided his loyalties lie with Roxas and Xion, but it amounts to nothing since Roxas still runs away and Xion ceases to exist.
  • In II, his friendship with Roxas is again the driving factor of his Conflicting Loyalty. While he has no qualms with his orders to bring Roxas back, he starts to grow disgruntled with his superiors when he is tasked to eliminate Roxas. He eventually screws over the Organization, and starts working independently, leading to a invokedTear Jerker when he dies at Sora's side, lamenting the fact that he never got to revive Roxas. Fortunately, by the events of III, Roxas is revived by Sora and Vexen, and reunites with Axel.
• Contract on the Hitman: Axel's primary role in the Organization was to kill off troublesome members. Saïx sent him to Castle Oblivion with the intention of him being the only member to leave, and Xemnas sends him after Roxas after he defected. Axel's failure leads to the rest of the Organization hunting him down.
• Deadpan Snarker: Heavy on both deadpan and full-on snark.
• Demoted to Extra: From Chain of Memories to II, which is ironic considering what happened to him afterwards. According to invokedWord of God, he was originally supposed to die at the end of Roxas's section of the game, so he would've been in even less if he hadn't turned out to be so popular with both fans and the development staff of the games. Thankfully, he was promoted back up to supporting character in 358/2 Days.
• Determinator: Once Roxas was absorbed back to Sora, Axel went through great lengths to try to bring him back. Even more so in the manga where he dragged his injured body after fighting Saïx to help Sora and friends find Kairi, sacrificing himself in the process.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Serves as the final boss in the prologue of II.
• Disney Death: Basically. The body that belonged to the being known as "Axel" dies for real, but he gets reborn with a new body as his original self (Lea) with all of his memories from his time as Axel intact, so he's essentially as good as new.
• Distinguishing Mark: He sports a pair of tear-like marks under his eyes, which reflects his human form's tendency to cry when he was little.
• Double Agent: Played straight, then subverted, then zigzagged, then does a loop-the-loop into an aversion. Axel wasn't actually a double agent — he was a quintuple agent. At one point, he pretended to join in with Marluxia's conspiracy, in order to get close enough to eliminate him as a traitor on Xemnas' orders, while really working with Saix so they can overthrow Xemnas themselves. At the same time, he helped both Sora and Namine, only partially because they would destroy Marluxia for him, and wiped out two Organization members who were still loyal to Xemnas to avoid anyone else using the knowledge of the Replica Project. In the end, of course, Axel's only real loyalty is to himself (though he tends to include his friends in that, whether they like it or not).
• Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Especially in Chain of Memories, though he has elements of it in II before his Heel–Face Turn.
• Dragon with an Agenda: To another Dragon with an Agenda, no less, and even telling the other one that his cooperation isn't always guaranteed.
  Axel: I'll play it your way...for now.
• The Dreaded: Axel's primary role in the Organization is that of a "fixer" (Saïx even refers to him as such) who keeps the other members in check and removes them from the board when necessary. Considering that someone as immensely dangerous as Marluxia hides behind a human-shield when up against him, Axel is deserving of his reputation. Likewise, both Vexen and Zexion utterly lose their shit when they realize that they're next on Axel's list. He is not feared only by those more powerful than him - Xemnas and Saïx - and those who are too arrogant to be scared, like Xigbar and Larxene.
• Dual Wielding: Always fights with a Chakram in each hand. In Re:COM, he can summon up to four of them at a time as part of his Firetooth sleight before tossing them so they can bounce all around the arena.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Was anyone really surprised he turned out to use fire-elemental attacks?
• Enemy Mine: When he helped Sora against the Nobodies in the Realm Between by blowing himself up and later used his last power to open a portal to the World That Never Was.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Axel does his share of villainous deeds in the series, but in Days he becomes increasingly intolerant of Saïx's dehumanizing treatment of Xion.
• Evil Redhead: Red haired and opposed to Sora, though for different reasons than the rest of Organization XIII.
• Evil Versus Evil: In Chain of Memories.
• Exact Words: Invokes this on Marluxia. When being obliquely tasked with killing Vexen, Axel pretends not to get it, requiring Marluxia to directly order him to "Eliminate the traitor." Axel comments that he can't take that back later and goes off to do the deed. Later, when attacking Marluxia, Axel reminds him that he and Larxene are traitors themselves and cites Marluxia's own order as a justification to kill him.
• Expy: He's a deliberate one of Reno from Final Fantasy VII. Nomura was once asked about their similarities and outright said that he made Axel in the image of Reno to try out a familiar character in a new universe and see how he developed. They even share voice actors in five languages (English, Japanese, French, Spanish and German).
• Face Realization: Of sorts. In the novels when Axel fights Xion for the last time, even though it's technically under orders, he admits that the things he's done and what he's now doing is for Roxas and Xion's sakes, not the Organization's, even if it means being labeled a traitor.
• Facial Markings: Two reverse teardrop shapes as Axel. They disappear once he's Lea again.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Axel tries desperately to protect Roxas and Xion from the Awful Truth of their existences, as well as from all the forces that desire their destruction. In the end he fails to keep them from finding out, fails to keep them safe, and their friendship is in shambles.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: He burns himself to death. It had to be toned down in the North American release.
• Fate Worse than Death: Xaldin threatening him with a spear to the face doesn't faze Axel, but Xemnas preparing to turn him into a Dusk causes him to cave.
• Faux Affably Evil: He acts like a Friendly Enemy to Sora in Chain of Memories and it looks like he's doing good by releasing Naminé, but as the D-Report in Riku's story mode notes on his character bio, it's all a means of manipulating them. Fully subverted when he returns as Lea.
• Fiery Redhead: A literal example.
• Foreshadowing: After freeing Naminé to go and save Sora he quickly notices how he was enjoying it, foreshadowing that his heart was beginning to return to him.
• Flanderization: The use of his Character Catchphrase has gone up with each passing game. In his first appearance, Chain of Memories, he only said it once.
• Gaslighting:
  • Axel repeatedly lies in response to or dismisses Roxas and Xion's questions about their pasts, hoping they'll forget about them and remain in ignorance. They don't.
  • 3D reveals that Axel himself, along with all of the rest of the Organization, were victims of this tactic in how they were told they didn't have hearts or emotions, when the truth was it was possible for Nobodies to start growing their own hearts. This is particularly detrimental to Axel since it's clear he started feeling emotions again around Roxas and Xion, but he constantly squashed them down or ignored them because he truly believed he wasn't supposed to be capable of feeling anything.
• Heel–Face Turn: Does a partial one. Axel goes from being a vicious, spiteful arse to being a kinder, more thoughtful person over the course of Days. Due to traumatic events, he relapses at the end of that game continuing into II, but he comes back around in the end.
• Heel Realization: After getting to know Xion and coming to care for her regardless of her being a Replica, he looks back on how he treated the Riku Replica with shame, thinking that he could never treat Xion in the same way.
• Her Heart Will Go On: A platonic variation and inversion of this trope. Axel is so hung up over Roxas that he spends most of KHII trying to resurrect him.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In Kingdom Hearts II, he pulls one when he puts all of his being into an attack (not that Nobodies have a being) to save Sora and company.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Develops this relationship with Roxas until the end of Days, wherein his lies and Roxas being frustrated with not knowing what was happening nearly destroyed their friendship.
• Hitman with a Heart: He usually kills most of his enemies mercilessly, but often also spares the lives of even high priority targets, when he feels like it though usually it is out of curiosity to see how their stories turn out hence forth or even a whim, rather than truly mercy. However, he was truly moved by Roxas, his last target, to the point he betrayed his Organization and turned against it and even sacrificed his life to destroy it. Granted, it helps that the two of them were best friends in the Organization before its shadier aspects drove them apart.
• Hot-Blooded: Despite not having a heart, he has a fiery personality.
• I Have Your Wife: Kidnaps Kairi in II to lure Sora out so he can turn Sora into a Heartless and get Roxas back in the process. Kairi gets away from him, and shortly afterward Axel abandons this plan.
• Intergenerational Friendship: He's decades older than Xion or Roxas, but befriends them both quickly, and all they want is for him to come back and be friends with them again.
• Irony: Axel spends most of the second half of Days feeling conflicted and unsure of what to do, struggling with the idea that Roxas or Xion must die in order for the other to live. But by the time Axel finally decides that choosing between them is unacceptable, he loses them both soon after.
• It's Personal with the Dragon: He spends more or less all of Kingdom Hearts II being hunted down by Saïx, and both of them try to get Sora to sabotage the other one specifically. With later games revealing their past friendship and how they were originally planning on overthrowing Xemnas together, it turns out to be even more personal than it first appeared.
• I Will Find You: He has orders to bring both Xion and Roxas back to the Organization at various points throughout Days and II, but it becomes increasingly more personal after Roxas defects, as seen by how emotional he gets when trying to retrieve Xion following that. By II, he's willing to do anything to get Roxas back.
• Karma Houdini: Survives the events of Chain of Memories with no repercussions.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: It all catches up to him in II, although it is really sad when it happens.
• Kick the Dog: Most of his malicious actions in Chain of Memories are against Asshole Victims... except when he threatened to kill Naminé when Marluxia uses her as a shield, or when he pushed the Riku Replica off the slippery slope for a few shits and giggles. Though in the Secret Reports in 358/2 Days he admits that he did feel remorse for using the Riku Replica as it made him as bad as Saïx and Xemnas who were using Xion in a similar vain.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Towards Roxas, and later Xion. He raises the amnesiac Keyblade-wielding Nobodies, giving them advice, teaching them about the world, and sticking up for them... but he's also a really Psycho Supporter.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Axel is somewhat unique in the Organization, and to a lesser extent the entire series, in actually using his Villain Teleportation to duck out of losing battles.
• Lack of Empathy: At the beginning of CoM, Axel has a mysterious, stoic, and calm, as well as cold, unforgiving, and merciless demeanor on par with that of Marluxia. In Re:CoM, he interrupts Vexen's cries for mercy with a cocky "goodbye" before incinerating him without any hesitation and seems to be amused by the deaths of his comrades as shown in the scene where he is making bets with Zexion. When Marluxia uses Naminé as a human shield against him, Axel confidently declares he would eliminate Naminé to get to Marluxia.
• Lean and Mean: The tight-fitting design of his Black Cloak emphasizes his tall, wiry frame more than any other Organization member and he was very much a malevolent antagonist in his debut in "Chain of Memories". Increasingly subverted, as his friendship with Roxas and Xion gradually sees him shed much of the meanness and he ends up pulling a Heel–Face Turn in his last moments.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: "You really do remember me this time? I'M SO FLATTERED."
• Limit Break: Explosion. He'll engulf his right chakram in flames and toss it at enemies to generate a large explosion. For his Final Limit he lights both chakrams on fire and tosses them both to create a highly damaging trio of huge pillar-shaped explosions.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Roxas and Xion become this for Axel, with his relationship to them eventually influencing his actions through the story of Days. Axel befriending them causes him to rapidly abandon any plans he had with his longtime friend Saïx, since the latter's disdain for the teenagers drives a wedge between himself and Axel. Axel's behavior also becomes highly unpredictable as his priorities shift towards "protecting Roxas and Xion at all costs", even if it means obstructing or lying to Roxas and Xion themselves, or getting into trouble with his higher ups in the Organization. Axel is clearly pained by Roxas running away from the Organization, and he completely loses his composure when he realizes Xion has decided to 'return to Sora' and disappear. By the time II comes around, Axel has lost his memories of Xion due the nature of what she was, but he's become an unhinged mess whose only motivation is to see Roxas again.
  • In 3D, this takes on a literal interpretation, since it's revealed that Nobody's can actually start to grow their own hearts overtime. Given that Axel writes in his Secret Reports that hanging out with Roxas and Xion make him remember "being human" or "what it was like to have friendship", one can deduce that they were the source of the first emotions he's had since becoming a Nobody. Since Nobody inherently desires to have hearts, it makes sense that Axel latched onto them like a drowning man.
• Lovable Traitor: He and Saïx were planning on betraying Xemnas, which meant he also needed to get in good with Marluxia and Larxene and then betray them so that they wouldn't betray Xemnas first. Then he betrays Zexion. And he's just so cool in doing all this.
• Love Makes You Evil: Downplayed example towards Roxas and Xion. It's zigzagged slightly in that his forming a relationship with Roxas and Xion actually made him become a kinder, more considerate person. However, his attachment to them also led him to become a Psycho Supporter who lies to them and makes them doubt their experiences, hoping it will keep them safe.
• Lying to Protect Your Feelings: Axel does this with increasing frequency over the course of 358/2 Days to both Roxas and Xion, especially once he discovers the truth about Xion's existence. The results are disastrous.
• Medium Awareness: Axel has an uncanny habit of Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • In III, he tells Xemnas that he's got tons of loads of people rooting for him, referencing his status among fans as an invokedEnsemble Dark Horse.
  • Later on, after he meets up with Sora, he states the reason why he took so long is because he had a "couple of plot points that needed ironing out".
• Negate Your Own Sacrifice: Axel carried out his Heroic Sacrifice fully believing he was going to cease to exist completely, not knowing that perishing as a Nobody would restore him to his completed self, Lea.
• Nerves of Steel: He can be surprisingly cool and collected when presented with a dangerous situation. Notably when Xaldin threatens to punish him if he doesn't obey orders and chucks a lance at Axel, narrowly missing his head but shearing a few strands of hair, Axel doesn't even flinch and merely stares with a bored expression and his arms crossed. Presumably, lacking a heart makes it easier for one to maintain their composure in all situations.
• Out of Focus: A major character in Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days; surprisingly inconsequential in Kingdom Hearts II.
• Parental Substitute: Acts as a mix of this and Big Brother Mentor to Roxas and Xion, although being a Nobody, it's flawed. Realizing he is the closest thing Roxas had to a brother casts his desperation to protect him in II in a previously unconsidered light.
• Personality Powers: He's rather hot-headed, as fire users usually are.
• Pick on Someone Your Own Size: Axel is initially a bit too keen on becoming best friends forever with Roxas (who is only 15- or rather, his soul is 15, Roxas himself is only less than a year old). After Roxas left, Axel goes into this trope full throttle, resulting in many many scenes where it looks like Axel is unhealthily obsessed with defeating and taking Roxas back.
• Pinocchio Nose: Whenever Axel lies or is unsure of what he's saying, he'll break eye contact.
• Platonic Declaration of Love: When he dies in II, he tells Sora that he really loved Roxas and that spending time with him made him feel like he had a heart.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: He tries to stop Roxas from leaving the Organization, invoking this, but ultimately fails. He does this again later with Xion in a more aggressive, unstable state of mind, and ends up taking her back by force, but Xion is taken from him later anyway.
• Pre-Final Boss: In Chain of Memories he's the last boss Sora faces before Marluxia.
• Precision Swear Strike: He's the first character to swear in the series, telling Sora "It's about time you give me one hell of a show!" in Chain of Memories. In Re:Com, however, the line was changed to omit the curse due to it being fully-voiced.
• Psycho Supporter: His obsession with "helping" or "protecting" Roxas and Xion rarely corresponds with what both of them actually want. He genuinely cares about them, but he also clings to the idea of keeping their relationship in a status quo so the three of them can remain that way forever, and in doing so he ends up lying and withholding information from them to their detriment. Ultimately his actions end up pushing Roxas away from him and causing the events that lead to Xion pulling a Suicide by Cop.
• Rebel Relaxation: Leans against walls with his arms folded from time to time, notably when he talks to Roxas one last time after he deserts the Organization to try and find the truth of his existence on his own.
• Red Baron: The Flurry of Dancing Flames.
• Redemption Equals Death: His death scene in Kingdom Hearts II.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Saïx's and Roxas's blue.
• Rings of Death: a pair of Chakrams, called Eternal Flames.
• Sad Clown: He definitely qualifies in II. He seems the most laidback among the other Organization members and even makes jokes during meetings that can have other members tossing weapons at him. Nevermind the fact that, like the other Nobodies, he can't have feelings, what truly causes Axel's sadness is his best and only friend, Roxas's departure from the Organization and forgetting who Axel is. Deep down, Axel hates the other members and would join Roxas if it were up to him. Despite supposedly not having any feelings, Axel legitimately cries before both him and Roxas disappear from Twilight Town after Sora defeats Roxas in the Final Mix version. This is because his friendship with Roxas and Xion caused him to begin to gain a heart.
  • He was less of this in his debut in COM and gets softer in Days.
• Secret-Keeper: Axel keeps a multitude of secrets from his friends. He knows Roxas's true nature and later discovers Xion's, but keeps them to himself even if they are things they ought to know. In part, it's to protect their feelings from being hurt but it's also because he desires to keep their friendship intact. This just ends up hurting all three of them badly.
• Secretly Selfish: Axel goes out of his way to explain and do a lot of things for Roxas and Xion, despite him playing up an attitude that he doesn't like doing 'troublesome things'. However, he also starts going out of his way to keep them in the dark about their true natures, even though they both want to know. He does want to protect them, but he does so in a way that undermines their trust. In the novels, he is shown coming to the realization that more than anything else, what he was doing was because of his personal desire for them to stay with him.
• Shonen Hair: The dude's hair is insane. Maybe even moreso than Sora himself.
• Single Tear: Axel sheds a tear when he and Roxas say goodbye after Axel sacrifices himself and Sora fights Roxas.
• The Sociopath: Although Axel seems to hold Larxene and Zexion in good company to an extent by making friendly conversation with Larxene while Marluxia is not around and making bets with Zexion as to which member will be defeated next, this was shown to be nothing more than an act to earn their trust. Eventually, Axel betrays Larxene by letting Naminé escape, although he seems disappointed yet satisfied upon her elimination. Later on, he encourages Riku Replica to annihilate Zexion to ensure that his actions in Castle Oblivion go unnoticed by the rest of the Organization and to help Saïx keep his rank in the Organization.
• Sole Survivor: Of all the Organization members sent to Castle Oblivion (consisting of Marluxia, Zexion, Vexen, Larxene, Lexeaus and Axel himself) in Chain of Memories, Axel was the only one to come back alive, having orchestrated the others' deaths.
• Spanner in the Works: Killing Vexen, the creator of the replica program, was a major setback to the Organization's plans.
• Stupid Sacrifice: He casts a massive fire spell that destroys an army of Dusks in Kingdom Hearts II, but the strain costs him his life. It was overall needless because a Dusk is the weakest form of Nobody that the player can encounter, and Sora didn't even look all that worn out. There's also some Gameplay and Story Segregation involved, since earlier in the story, Sora fought one thousand mid-level Heartless, alone, and won.
• Taking You with Me: He dies in order to wipe out an entire army of Dusks.
• Together in Death: In the novels, he intended to burn down the mansion he and Roxas fought in so that the two of them would die together rather than be separated again, but he ultimately couldn't go through with it. This does not appear to be the case in the game.
• Tsundere: Axel often acts cool and unflappable, but every time Roxas or Xion compliment him or call him out about caring about them he gets really flustered.
• Underestimating Badassery: He was usually underestimated by both comrades and enemies. That was a very fatal mistake.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: For his friends, anyway. Axel drags Xion back to the organization to prevent her from basically committing suicide, but that just leaves her open to being taken and modified by Xemnas into going One-Winged Angel, and Roxas is forced to kill her. It was going to be a bad situation regardless, but it was made so much more heartbreaking.
  • It could be said that Axel inadvertently set in motion how things played out regarding Roxas and Xion as far back as when he killed Vexen. Vexen created the replica program, and Axel killing him at Castle Oblivion was not part of the plan. Vexen's premature death meant that there wasn't anyone who could perform 'maintenence' when Xion began to leech more power and memories from Roxas than was intended. It was precisely because Xion and Axel realized that something was wrong with her that caused them to seek out answers, which in turn began the derailing of the trio's relatively peaceful existence in the Organization.
• Villainous Widow's Peak: Grows out of the villainous part.
• Visual Pun: His weapons are circular, wheel-like blades. He's literally an Axel between wheels.
• What Is This Feeling?: Axel starts to have flashes of emotion around Roxas and Xion, and he repeatedly notes that being around them makes him remember his life as a human. It's something that greatly confuses and weirds him out because Nobodies aren't supposed to have emotions. Then 3D reveals that Nobodies can grow their own hearts.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: He grows to care deeply for Roxas and Xion without realizing what that feeling is, and reveals to Sora that he made him feel the same way they did.
• We Used to Be Friends: His friendship with Saïx drifted apart as he became closer to Roxas and Xion. Not until Axel failed to secure Roxas from Diz did Saïx consider him his enemy and vice versa.
• Wild Card: In the end, the only side Axel was on before his return as Lea was his own.
  Lexaeus: And then there is Axel. Who knows what that one is thinking.
• Would Hurt a Child: Like everyone else in Organization XIII, Axel has zero qualms about fighting Sora when the latter was 14 years old. To add to that, Axel has fought, knocked out, and/or tried to destroy Roxas, Xion, and Naminé at different times for different reasons, and while all three look like teenagers around Sora's age, in truth they each had existed for under a year at the time Axel attacked them.
• Yandere: Of the friendship variety to Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II. In the novels, it goes to the point where he wants to die along with him inside of a burning mansion.
• You Do Not Want To Know: When it's apparent that Xion is on the verge of finding out the nature of her existence, Axel becomes extremely obstructive to her, telling her to stop trying to remember her past and begging her to turn back.

Tropes that apply to Lea

Lea

"You kidding? Do you know how popular I am? I got loads of people rootin' for me!"

^{Click here to see Young Lea}

^{Click here to see Lea in his Twilight Town attire}

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

Appearances: Birth by Sleep | Dream Drop Distance | Coded | III

"Axel? Please. The name's Lea. Got it memorized?"

Lea is the complete being of Axel. Birth by Sleep reveals that Lea was best friends with Isa, Saïx's Other. In Dream Drop Distance, Axel is back as Lea, his true self. Towards the end, it is revealed that Lea has gained the ability to wield his own Keyblade, and will thus undergo training alongside Kairi. He eventually decides to reclaim the name Axel, deciding it will help Roxas whenever they manage to revive him. Axel joins the Second Keyblade War in earnest, getting some closure with Isa and reuniting with Roxas and Xion in the process.

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• Accidental Misnaming: It's easier to count the times someone doesn't call him Axel. Eventually, he gives in and just lets people call him that. In fairness, the only people that ever met him as Lea were Isa and Ventus, as well as Dilan and Aeleus when they threw Isa and Lea out of the castle. In III he actually requests that Kairi call him Axel, the two having become close friends during training.
• All There in the Manual: His Keyblade, the Bond of the Blaze, is only named in Melody of Memory.
• Anime Hair: Usual for the series, but he is a particularly bad case.
• Apologizes a Lot: Apparently this is his behavior towards Kairi during their time training together, as her letter to Sora tells that Lea has repeatedly apologized to her for kidnapping her back when he was Axel, and he continues to do so even though she's told him that she's not bearing a grudge.
• Ascended Extra: Got a small role in Birth By Sleep before becoming a key player in 3D.
• Audience Surrogate: In III. He's just as confused and questioning of the series' plot points as the rest of us.
• Back from the Dead: He reappears in Dream Drop Distance after being turned into a Heartless and Nobody. He returns with all of his memories intact from being both Axel and Lea, and his personality is a mix of Axel's sarcastic laziness and Lea's enthusiasm and cheerfulness.
• Big Damn Heroes: Several times in Dream Drop Distance. He even lampshades it.
  Lea: "'Dark Rescue's my middle name."
• Black Cloak: Lea is the only human form of a Nobody that still wears the Organization XIII coat.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Tries to have some in Re:Mind but Aqua isn't having it.
  Lea: Not bad for an on-the-fly team, right?!
  Aqua: Don't talk, fight!
  Lea: Hmph, don't have to say it like that...
• Character Catchphrase: "Got it memorized?", much like his Nobody. As he says in Birth by Sleep, he frequently says this because he wants anyone he meets to remember him.
• Combination Attack: During the fight with the Replica Xehanorts he gets one with Aqua, combining the spinning snowflake of her Spellweaver with the flaming chakram with Prominence.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Lea retains his darkness abilities from when he was a Nobody, with his ability to create Dark Corridors being particularly useful to the heroes.
• Determinator: We already knew he must be a strong-willed person to have retained his human shape when he became a Nobody, but he really shows it in III. Even after having his Keyblade shattered by Xemnas and then bombarded by him from lasers coming from all directions, he still tries to stop him from killing Xion, even though he can't even stand at the moment. Taken to new levels in Re:Mind where after all that, he still fights Saïx and Xemnas alongside Roxas and Xion, and wins! However, this leaves him without energy to finish off Saïx and has to let Sora, Roxas and Xion do the job.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?:
  • Gives an epic one to Master Xehanort during his Big Damn Heroes moment.
    Lea: "You had your perfect, little script, but you kinda forgot to write the sequel. Now, let's find out what happens!"
  • Does it again to Xemnas in III. However, this time ends a bit more badly for him.
• Dull Surprise: Played for Laughs when he calls his Keyblade for the first time, in contrast to the usual excellent performance of his voice actors.
  Lea: Must be in the snap of the wrist or something. (Keyblade appears) Oh...
• Easily Forgiven: Ienzo surprisingly doesn't seem to begrudge Lea for causing his incredibly painful demise when they were Axel and Zexion. Given that his murder directly resulted in Ienzo being revived as a complete being once more, which is something he is very clearly happy with, perhaps he just decided to bury the hatchet.
  • In 0.2 Kairi is a partial subversion as she's somewhat hesitant to accept he's to be her Keyblade training partner when she's told that he's formerly Axel. Makes sense, considering her two sole encounters with him were less-than-pleasant and endangered her till near the end of II. She has to be assured by Mickey and Riku that he's completely changed his tune since becoming whole again and is now on their side.
  • He had lied to and gaslit Roxas and Xion repeatedly as Axel to the point of driving Roxas to leave the Organisation, and the last time he saw either of them he was hunting them down to drag them back to the Organisation against their wishes. This eventually lead to Xion's suicide at the climax of "358/2 Days" and Roxas becoming part of Sora and "Kingdom Hearts II". Neither of them seem to have any issue being friends with him upon their reunion in "Kingdom Hearts III".
  • As Axel, he replaced and abandoned Saïx, betrayed him by leaving the Organisation and consequently destroying any chance of their plan to get their hearts back, find Subject X and escape the Organisation succeeding in spite of everything they (especially Saïx, who sacrificed more for this over the decade than Axel ever had) did to achieve those goals, all in the name of his friendship with Roxas and Xion. As a result, Saïx was left alone and trapped in the Organisation as a brainwashed slave without a shred of hope or happiness and coming dangerously close to crossing the Despair Event Horizon until Axel's plan to get Roxas back and save Kairi lead to the destruction of both their Nobodies. When confronted with this, Lea claims to have not forgotten him and Isa is willing to let it go.
• Fiery Redhead: As all fire users usually are.
• Flaming Sword: On top of his Keyblade having a natural fiery glow, all of Lea's special attacks and regular combos deal fire damage.
• Flanderization: The use of his Charactet Catchphrase has gone up with each passing game. In his Nobody's first appearance, Chain of Memories, he only said it once.
• Fragile Speedster: Lea's Raid-based fighting style gives him multi-hitting attacks on each swing of his combo. He doesn't get much opportunity to display it though, as he is quickly knocked out of the action twice in the Keyblade Graveyard — first sent flying in a single hit from Terra-Xehanort (even while attempting to block it!), then easily caught and completely drained by Xemnas' Macross Missile Massacre before the final fight with Saïx. Even while fighting alongside Sora, his habit of chasing down Saïx during the latter's Berserk Dance and rather unique lack of healing magic regularly flattens him out. When battling the Replica Xehanorts in Re:Mind, he's one of the characters who uses Aerial Dodge instead of Block.
• Gender-Blender Name: His name, Lea, is supposed to be pronounced "Leah" according to the katakana, but the English version pronounces it "Lee", presumably in an attempt to make it sound masculine. Downplayed in that Lea is a real English word that is pronounced like "Lee" and many Japanese pronunciation of English words do add an "ah" to the end of it.
• Hot-Blooded: Very much so.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Even though he can wield a Keyblade, he hasn't exactly gotten the hang of calling it out. As a result, he resorts to his good old fashioned chakrams when goes in to save Sora. It's only after the whole ordeal that he manages to summon it.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Kairi is Lea's partner in crime for Kingdom Hearts III, and she is roughly half his height.
• Hypocritical Humor: Insults Ventus for playing with a wooden Keyblade, yet proudly shows his frisbees as his weapon of choice.
• I Got Bigger: It's rather jarring to realize he used to be roughly the same height as Ventus and now he's nearly twice his size.
• I'm Crying, but I Don't Know Why: He ends up shedding tears when Kairi accidentally triggers a vague memory of Xion, although it's clear that he doesn't know exactly why.
• Immortality Through Memory: Birth by Sleep reveals that this belief is the origin behind his Character Catchphrase. Lea wants everyone he meets to remember who he is, as through those people's memories he'll be able to live forever.
• Improbable Use of a Weapon:
  • Lea carries and swings his keyblade around from the chakram that makes up its handguard.
  • In his youth, he uses a pair of frisbees to fight Ventus.
• Insistent Terminology: Him telling people to call him Lea, not Axel, is a Running Gag in 3D. In the end, he admits defeat and says that Axel works too. After he and Kairi become friends, he asks her to call him Axel^note This immediately after she triggers a memory of Xion, and he discusses his intent to bring Roxas back.
• Irony: When he was Axel, he was constantly telling people to memorize his name. Now he's Lea, and they keep calling him Axel despite his protests. In other words, they had it memorized. Which may be why he doesn't even bother correcting anyone during III.
• Limited Wardrobe: A variant that’s deliberately invoked. He is given a new outfit to wear fairly early in III, but he doesn’t actually wear it until the very end. So, when Kairi asks why he’s still wearing the Organization coat, he just says that he’s making himself easy to remember. The implication being that he’s making it easy for Roxas to remember him, which may be why he doesn’t bother correcting people when they call him Axel. Roxas never learned what his real name was.
• The Load: In III he spends most of his time being kicked around by Master Xehanort and his Seekers of Darkness and only spends half of a battle as a party member before being too wounded to continue. This is especially ironic since his Keyblade training took place in a place without time so that he could grow strong at his own pace, but this didn't seem to do him any good in the end. This is averted in Re:Mind, where not only does he help Roxas and Xion defeat Saïx and Xemnas, but he also fights alongside the other Guardians (minus Sora and Kairi) against the Xehanort replicas, even having a Combination Attack with Aqua.
• Made of Iron: While he wasn't able to shrug it off, the fact alone that he managed to survive Xemnas' Beam Spam in III is pretty damn impressive. Even more so after the cutscene in question was patched and modified so that Xemnas' shoots even more lasers at him than before.
• Manly Tears: He tearfully reunites with and embraces both Roxas and Xion after Saïx is dealt with in III. According to Isa, Lea used to be (and still is) a crybaby. The reverse tears on his face, as Axel, were apparently a joke made by Isa when they were younger to stop him from crying. By their last battle, this is discussed when Isa thought that Lea outgrew those marks, but he still cries a lot, especially when Isa himself disappears as Saïx and in his reunion hug with Roxas and Xion. They are probably a metaphor to say that he doesn't mind crying anymore, now that he has his heart back.
• Meta Guy: Develops into this by III, even going as far as to Lampshade his own popularity.
  Lea: You kidding? Do you know how popular I am? I got loads of people rootin' for me.
  • Another scene before the final battle has him lampshade the absurdly hard-to-follow Kudzu Plot the series is infamous for.
  Lea: This is all very touching, guys, but where do I fit in? Ven looks just like Roxas - or is it Roxas looks just like Ven? ... And now I have to explain it all to him - which is in itself a crazy long story - and, apparently everybody already knows everyone, and this is an insane amount to get memorized!
• Morph Weapon: Unsurprisingly, he transforms his Keyblade into a pair of chakrams with his Firaga Raid attack.
• Nice Guy: Lea acts as cocky as his Nobody counterpart, but he cares deeply for his friends.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Is bequeathed the power of the Keyblade by either Yen Sid or Mickey, travels to the Secret Forest with Merlin and the Three Fairies to learn how to call it from his heart, and by the time we get to see it, he’s clearly almost gotten the hang of it already. This makes him the only person in the room(including Yen Sid) not to react with a big “WHOOOOAAAA!” when he finally summons it onscreen.
• Personality Powers: Fiery and useful in a pinch.
• The Promise: Axel once told Xion that he'd always be there to bring her and Roxas back. Lea's first moment after he comes back is a dream where Roxas reminds him of that promise, and Lea later refers to it, indicating that he wants to fulfill it.
• Rebel Relaxation: Just like Axel, he leans against a wall with his arms folded in Yen Sid's Tower while Yen sid judges the results of Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery Exam. He even first summons his keyblade for the first time while in this pose.
• Reverse Grip: A variation; he wields his Keyblade by its handguard, in a manner akin to his old chakrams, and flourishes it to attack.
• Sad Clown: In III, Lea makes quite a few jokes among the rest of the seven guardians of light that seem to poke fun of the franchise as a whole and his funny persona comes back with a fiery vengeance. However, the same goes for his sadness when he finds himself remembering Xion during his time with Kairi. Finally, when he successfully reunites with Roxas and a tearful Xion, he jokes that he should've brought the ice cream, right before he himself emotionally breaks down and hugs both of his best friends as the trio have the cry of their lives.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Along with Isa, he lost his humanity and spent 10 years of his life working for the nefarious Xemnas as a result of a plan to save a girl who they no longer even had in their custody. While he was eventually able to be recompleted and make several new friends and allies, he's still no closer to saving that girl than he was a decade ago.
• Spectacular Spinning: Once he gets a Keyblade, he wields it in a style reminiscent of his old chakrams, involving flourishes that spin it completely and tossing it in Fire Raid style.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: With his Keyblade he fights almost exclusively by throwing it Fire Raid style in his basic combo and both of his Firaga Cutter and Firaga Slicer abilities.
• Took a Level in Badass: Young Lea didn't seem to be much more than an average teenager and the one time he tried to challenge a wooden keyblade-wielding Ventus to a fight, he got his ass handed to him. After spending roughly a decade as the Nobody Axel, he's recompleted as an older Lea with all of his skills and abilities retained. Then he learns how to summon his own keyblade.
• Took a Level in Kindness: As Axel, he was a sinister, cruel Jerkass and a serious Psycho Supporter to Roxas. As Lea, he's a funny and kind individual with none of the malice left over from his days as a Nobody.
• True Companions: In Days, Axel was the one who first declared that he, Roxas, and Xion, are best friends, and he told Xion that no matter her and Roxas's decisions, he will always be there to bring them back. With Lea recompleted, he carries this will on.
• Unexplained Recovery: Not him, but his Keyblade. After it is broken by Xemnas he is shown to have it back before Sora's final confrontation with Xehanort, whereas when the same thing happened to Riku earlier in the game he had to leave the Realm of Darkness and return with an entirely new Keyblade.
  • Made even more egregious in Re:Mind, where he proceeds to use it to fight Xemnas and Saix alongside Roxas and Xion immediately after Xemnas broke it.
• Vague Age: Was a teenager in Birth by Sleep, so he's likely in his twenties for most of the series. But specifically where in his twenties is just guesswork until we get invokedWord of God confirming it. Common guesses are that he was about 15/16 in Birth by Sleep making him about 27/28 in III.
• Villainous Widow's Peak: Averted on the villain bit, but still has his widow's peak.
• Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: While he actually does have plenty of battle-experience with his chakrhams, as a Keyblade wielder he's as green as Kairi, Xemnas trouncing him almost immediately.
• Wistful Amnesia: Kairi's letter reveals that when Lea looks at her face (which is also Xion's), he knows there is something he's forgotten and needs to remember.
• The Worf Barrage: During the brief boss fight against Saïx and Xion, when Saïx fills up his second Berserk meter and powers up a second time, Lea will always rush in and wildly toss his old chakrams at him while yelling at him to stop. Saïx will have invincibility frames the whole time and will the proceed to incapacitate all the heroes in the ensuing cutscene.
• Year Inside, Hour Outside: Merlin, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather all pitch in to warp time and space to reduce the amount of time it takes to make Lea worthy of a Keyblade.
• You Were Trying Too Hard: Implied. He spends a decent amount of slowed down time trying to call a Keyblade before giving up due to other pressing matters. After things settle, he lazily gives it another shot and succeeds, surprising even himself.