Characters / Kingdom Hearts: Roxas

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 2020 may be unmarked. Read at your own risk.

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Roxas, The Key of Destiny

"Why did the Keyblade choose me? I have to know."

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

Voiced by: Kōki Uchiyama (Japanese), Jesse McCartney (English)

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

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

Organization XIII's 13th member. A mysterious Nobody able to wield the Keyblade, he defected when he realized that the Organization (sans Axel, though at the time Roxas doubted even that) cared nothing for him. He's revealed to be Sora's Nobody, born when Sora took his own heart in Kingdom Hearts. Roxas ultimately chose to merge back with Sora around the time his summer vacation ended but eventually accepted his fate as he could still exist inside of Sora's heart.

As time passed and attitudes changed, however, Sora ultimately resolved to give Roxas his own life autonomous from him, especially after learning Roxas had indeed developed his own heart during his life. These efforts came to fruition during the Second Keyblade War, in which Roxas’s heart was placed inside a Replica which finally allowed Roxas to begin a life that was wholly his own - and one that reunited him with his best friends at last.

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# - C

• 11th-Hour Superpower: Roxas obtains the ability to dual wield the Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblades during the first part of the last mission in 358/2 Days. His attacking speed and power increase dramatically, letting him quickly kill the Neoshadows that spawn with only one or two hits.
• Absurd Cutting Power: His Keyblades are a lot sharper than giant keys have any right to be.
• Alleged Lookalikes: As Sora's Nobody, he's often noted to have a strong resemblance to him... for some reason. Their faces are identical, but this is difficult to see when their usual facial expressions are so different, not to mention the different hair and voices. Other human/Nobody pairs are basically identical (compare Axel and Lea), and conspicuously, no one ever points out a resemblance between the similar Kairi and Naminé. Later games open up the possibility that Sora/Roxas were actually being compared to Vanitas/Ventus respectively (characters tend to omit who they're making a comparison to), but there are several occasions where that is obviously not the case.
• Anime Hair: His hair is spiky, as the front concentrates the spikes on the right side of his head as if windswept, while the back is smoother and more flaky.
• Anti-Hero: Roxas is short-tempered, aggressive, blunt, and stands his ground against his foes. He can be arrogant, confident, and cocky as proven in his battles. He can be rightfully selfish in certain intervals. However, Roxas is shown to be not be very ruthless and is merciful to his enemies, as he spares a severely weakened Saïx and tries, albeit harshly, to convince Riku that fighting him is pointless.
• Anti-Villain: Even during his time in the Organization, he was never really "evil" and moreso just wanted to find out who he was. Once he vents his frustration in his fight with Sora, he's satisfied enough and drops all traces of villainy.
• Artificial Family Member: III seems to imply that Sora considers Roxas his brother, as Hiro talking about how Tadashi, his own brother, still lives on inside the hearts of Hiro himself and the rest of Big Hero 6 causes Sora to briefly see the superhero team as the Twilight Town trio and Sora himself as Roxas.
• Asleep for Days: Roxas spends three weeks in a coma as a result of Sora's own coma in Days, and is looked after by Xion.
• Assassin Outclassin': Roxas foiled every attempt by Organization XIII to terminate him.
• A Taste of Power: His Dual Wielding is a thing to be feared against anything that tries to fight him. In Days, the player blazes through hordes of some of the most fearsome Heartless without issue.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: In comparison to Sora, Roxas seems to have a far more aggressive style: he is constantly on the offensive, and abandons any defensive moves he had previously used, such as the Guard technique and magic, in favor of speed and strength. In their mental struggle in the Dive to the Heart, he briefly manages to overpower and disarm Sora with simple brute force. In this battle, he also has a more aggressive stance than he did when fighting Axel.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In the manga, after taking a bite out of a mushroom in Wonderland, Roxas grows into a giant that towers over the forest and forces Luxord to ride in his ear.
• Awesome, but Impractical: His signature Dual Wielding style with the Oathkeeper and Oblivion keyblades is available for usage in the Mission Mode of 358/2 Days by equipping 3 ability slots on Zero Gear while playing as him. Sadly, despite its high stats and being primarily based on his attacks from his boss fight, it's reliant on very long, elaborate combo strings with little individual damage with each swing. In a game, where the majority of enemies don't stagger to most attacks and limited windows of vulnerability, you're usually better off with a weapon with shorter combos but higher individual damage per hit.
  • His unique Dual Wielding Limit Break Magic Hour is also a lot more spotty compared to his more reliable Event Horizon Limit Break when wielding his other keyblades. He rains down beams randomly around him, usually in front of him and while strong, they're very much inaccurate and not too practical against smaller, quicker enemies. The Final Limit increases the beams' size, speed, and especially damage but there's still not much guarantee that you'll be landing hits with it unless you're fighting a large enemy or many enemies.
• Back from the Dead: In III Roxas's physical body is restored by Vexen, Ienzo and Ansem the Wise through the Replica Program. The fact that Saïx had a hidden hand in it also helps, as he was also The Atoner.
• Badass Longcoat: When in Organization XIII, Roxas wore the usual all-black uniform, with a number of small differences. His pants were different, looking more casual, and loose. He also did not tuck the legs of his pants into his boots like the other members did, though Roxas's "boots" more resembled black versions of his street shoes, and may not have been knee-high like the other members'. Roxas's cloak had a vague resemblance to the ones worn by Xigbar and Demyx, with slightly pointed shoulders and slightly close-fitting sleeves.
• Battle Aura: In III when fighting Saix, he gets an aura of golden light which greatly reduces the damage and knockback he receives.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind:
  • The very first boss in II is against the Twilight Thorn in the Station of Awakening, a location that is heavily implied to be a person's heart. The giant Nobody is trying to subdue Roxas so he can be returned to the Organization.
  • Near the end of the game, Roxas senses Axel's sacrifice and wakes up in response, making his existence known to Sora. The two end up fighting within Sora's heart as Roxas tries for one last chance to be a real person.
• Berserk Button: He intensely dislikes being compared to Sora, because he would rather people see him as his own person, which DiZ notes with amusement in their encounter.
  Riku: So it's true. You really are his Nobody. Guess DiZ was right after all.
  Roxas: What are you talking about? I am me! Nobody else!
  • Roxas also has little patience for people who seem to be bending his will or trying to confuse him.
  • Seeing anyone mistreating Xion to the point of calling her an "it" also gets him angry, specifically towards Saix.
  • As seen the Re Mind scenario, Roxas also expresses genuine rage upon seeing Sora getting badly injured by Xemnas.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's hands down the nicest member of Organization XIII, showing a level of empathy unheard of among Nobodies, but he's also its most powerful after Xemnas. Hurting any of his closest friends will result in him unleashing hell on those who try to do so.
• Big Damn Heroes: As Xemnas is just about to kill Xion for refusing to kill Lea (who Xemnas himself had just beaten up pretty badly), Roxas comes shooting down out of the sky in the new replica body that Vexen, Ansem the Wise and Ienzo had prepared for him.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The blond to Axel's redhead and Xion's brunette.
• Boss Remix: "The Other Promise", which is a remix of his normal theme. Noteworthy for not being a fast-paced and energetic theme like most boss remixes.
• Bound and Gagged: Twice in the manga adaptation. First, when about to be executed by guillotine after being framed by the Cheshire Cat for throwing a hedgehog ball at the Queen of Hearts. Second, when captured by the Lost Boys after being mistaken as a pirate.
• Breakout Character: Roxas fits in with this trope due appearing in almost every title of the series due to his massive popularity. Fans like him for being a sympathetic badass who is capable of wielding two dual-wielding Keyblades. It's obvious that Days is an excuse for the game-makers to put him in the protagonist role. Even though his importance in the story mostly ends after Days, he is such an iconic character that even casual players not bothered to pay attention to the confusing story recognize him by name.
  • It's funny to think that the prologue of II was actually lambasted when it was first released because it took a long time to play as Sora again, a reception that is now long gone dead since the old days.
• Break the Cutie: Out of all characters who suffer, Roxas has it the hardest. Starting off, he originally thought he was serving a greater cause by helping Organization XIII form the artificial Kingdom Hearts. He also forms close bonds to Xion and Axel during his stay. However, when discovering that the Organization (including Axel) hid many things from him, Roxas realizes they've been using him as a replaceable tool this entire time. Feeling hurt and betrayed, Roxas chooses to leave the Organization, only to be forced into fighting and unintentionally killing Xion, who decides to sacrifice herself for Roxas' sake of living. This emotional weight crashes down on him, leaving him with nothing but feelings of despair and anger upon watching Xion die in front of him.
  • Cut forward to II, Roxas has his memories altered by DIZ and placed into a data Twilight Town. However, upon regaining his memories near the end of his story, Roxas feels great anger about his life being a huge lie. He then gets into conflict with his former friend Axel and learns about his status as Sora's Nobody from Naminé and later DIZ. Roxas' realization to the truth results in him breaking down emotionally to the point of brashly attacking the hologram DIZ. As of now, the current Roxas is more melancholic and serious about life but later grows to accept his role as Sora's Nobody in later games.
• Call-Forward: A rather powerful example towards who we all know is Naminé in KHII considering this is during his emotional fallout with Axel:
  Roxas: Somebody knows where I came from. If I can't get answers here, I'll get them somewhere else. That'll be the person...I trust.
• Captain Obvious: His first recon mission with Vexen has him pointing out very obvious features of Twilight Town's infrastructure.
  Roxas: These tiles are different than the others... it's like a road...
  Vexen: Fascinating... And?
  Roxas: Um...
  Vexen: We'll never get anywhere if you just keep stating the obvious.
• Character Development: A central component of Days is that Roxas has to learn to emote on his own since he has no memories of his life to tell him how to, and he begins the game as a lifeless dullard. By the end, things are... different. In Kingdom Hearts II's prologue, he emotes more or less normally, but the residual memories from Days have traumatized him, and once again the circumstances drive him to give in to rage before he finally resigns himself to merge back into Sora. In 3D, he maintains that his name isn't Roxas and that Sora is him, though Sora insists that Roxas has as much of a right to be his own person as anyone else. It's a far cry from how he reacted to the reveal of his true identity in II.
• Clear My Name: A significantly less serious version than most opens II, as Roxas has to clear his name over stealing a few photographs.
• Clone Angst: He's not exactly a "clone" of Sora, but nonetheless he fits the bill. Much angst ensues when he finds out that he's just Sora's Nobody and not really meant to exist, and it takes a lot of Character Development (and a fight to the death with Sora) before he fully lets go of his anger and accepts his apparent fate. Ironically though, just as he comes to terms with being forever locked inside of Sora's heart, Sora becomes horrified at the idea and tries to find a way to give him his own life.
• Composite Character: In-universe; he is Sora's Nobody but gets his appearance from Ventus, due to Ven's heart residing inside Sora. In this way he can be considered an Alternate Self to both of them.
• Cool Key: Two of them: Oathkeeper and Oblivion. Being two of the more blade-like keyblades in the series, both double as a Cool Sword.
• Cosmic Plaything: Absolutely, especially in Days, but with elements in II. He's born as what amounts to a lifeless doll without any memories to call upon. He develops a personality after getting close to Axel and Xion, who become his two closest friends. But in the end, he's forced to fight Axel and kill Xion. After that, he has his memories wiped again and is brainwashed into living in a virtual town. He isn't even allowed his own life when he discovers the truth as he's strong-armed into fusing back into Sora to make him whole again. You can't help but feel sorry for Roxas.
• Cradling Your Kill: He holds Xion in his arms until she fades away after he defeats her.
• Cutscene Boss: In II. The Updated Re-release upgrades him to a full-fledged Duel Boss.

D - N

• Decoy Protagonist: II starts off with him as the Player Character, though the role switches to Sora after the prologue is completed.
• Defeat Means Friendship: The next time we see Roxas in II, he's much more willing to (fully) merge with Sora and become whole.
• Defector from Decadence: After the Organization's terrible treatment of him and Xion as well as him discovering all the secrets they — including Axel — have been keeping about who he is, Roxas decides he's had enough of them and leaves to find answers himself. Unfortunately, his independence is short-lived.
• Depending on the Artist: Hand-drawn artwork and FMV cutscenes tend to show his hair as a much lighter shade of blonde than his in-game models. Come Kingdom Hearts III he's noticeably blonder and more in line with official art.
• Deus Exit Machina: Roxas when he gets his head on straight and also summons both his keyblades is easily one of the strongest protagonists in the series - which naturally means events conspire to prevent him from doing either very often. Only at the tail end of 3 does Roxas reappear in top form and as a party member, and it's worth the wait - he will demolish Super Mode Saix for you if you let him.
• Disguised in Drag: Once again, in the manga, Roxas attempts to disguise himself as the White Rabbit's maid, Marianne, by throwing on an apron from a French Maid Outfit over his Black Coat. The Rabbit isn't fooled, so Roxas gets arrested.
• Dragged into Drag: Roxas found himself in drag in the manga adaptation Days, when he was forced to wear a French Maid Outfit while trespassing the White Rabbit's house when the Rabbit came home, trying to trick him into thinking he was his servant, Mary Ann. However, the Rabbit saw through the disguise, and Roxas was put onto trial.
• The Dreaded:
  • His Dual Wielding gives him incredible fighting potential. The only thing that can put Roxas down is when the enemy receives a power up to overthrow him. It's bad enough Riku had to tap into the power of darkness to subdue and capture Roxas for the sake of saving Sora from his dormant state.
  • When he makes his triumphant return in III, Xemnas is uncharacteristically unnerved and off-guard. Given his strength within the next fight, his alarm was well-founded.
• Dual Wielding: The first thing we learned about Roxas, way before we even knew his name or that he was Sora's Nobody, was that he could wield two Keyblades at once. Much later, we learned he could only do it briefly, as it was triggered when his anger at Xion's death unlocked Ven's Keyblade.
• Duel Boss: In II Final Mix, he fights Sora 1v1 in Sora's Dive to the Heart.
• Dying Alone: This is what Roxas implies will happen to him when he talks with Axel as he's leaving Organization XIII. When Axel tries to convince him not to leave, telling him the Organization will kill him, Roxas says indifferently that "no one would miss me". And in a way, he did sort of end up dying alone. Or, at least, having the majority of his personality go dormant inside of Sora, with no one being there with him at the time when he returned to Sora's body.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Roxas' early design from the Another Side, Another Story secret ending of I has straight hair covering his eyes, compared to his Shonen Hair for his current design. He also appeared to have Supernatural Gold Eyes when he meets Xemnas instead of his usual blue eyes during that ending.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: He's reunited with Xion and Lea at the end of III, arriving just in time to save them from Xemnas and being able to finally live out his days in peace with them in Twilight Town the way he always wanted to.
• Endearingly Dorky: He's rather clumsy and a childish dork in the manga adaptation of 358/2 Days who gleefully looks up to Axel, makes all kinds of silly faces, and frequently gets himself into all sorts of hijinks. He also displays this trait in the games whenever he isn't struggling with finding his true purpose in the Organization.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Downplayed, but the anti-heroic, more morally grey Roxas generally has a deeper, more mature voice than his original self Sora or his look-alike Ventus.
• Evil Twin: Is framed as Sora's on occasion, particularly in II, because he is Sora's Nobody and as a rule of thumb even humanoid Nobodies are viewed as inherently evil, emotionless shells by the heroes (and to be fair, most of the Organization doesn't give them reason to doubt it). Roxas is often more subdued and quick to anger compared to Sora's sunny personality, is a member of the antagonistic Organization XIII Sora is trying to stop, outright calls himself "someone from the dark" when Sora asks who he is, and introduces himself to Sora by furiously attacking him after Axel died for Sora. Subverted in that Roxas is in general a pretty good kid and doesn't serve as an Evil Counterpart because he's already pulled a Heel–Face Turn by the time Sora meets him, with Roxas even teaming up with Sora by the time he returns in III.
• Fake Memories: His memories got replaced while inside Diz's Fake Twilight Town. He didn't take it well once he found out.
• Fighting Your Friend:
  • Roxas fights Xigbar in the Olympus Coliseum about halfway through Days, though it's a friendly match for the games meant to maintain a charade.
  • On Day 352, Roxas and Xion are tricked into fighting each other without realizing it (they think the other is a Heartless due to an illusion) as part of Xemnas' plan, though they're quickly stopped by Axel. They fight again on Day 357, though this time Xion is forcing Roxas into it to get him to destroy her.
  • Roxas ends up fighting his Best Friend, Axel, twice during the prologue of II. Roxas can't remember who Axel is due to amnesia and doesn't want to rejoin the Organization, while Axel needs to bring Roxas back lest he be harshly punished for failure.
• Final Boss: The data version of him serves as the last fight in coded.
• Flash Step: He can move temporarily as fast as light and his best melee attack slashes right through an enemy with two blades at light speed. In III he literally turns into a beam of light to perform a dash attack.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: After Roxas's Big Damn Heroes moment in III, Sora begins battle with Saïx with Roxas and Xion for backup. Sora and Xion being there is more a courtesy than a requisite: As a combat ally, Roxas is powerful enough to thrash Saïx all on his own - which, of course, is justified by how strong he is in the story.
• Girl of My Dreams: Through a possible Psychic Link of sorts due to her power over Sora's memories, and by extension anyone connected to him, there are moments where Roxas in Days (like in Day 26) and KHII sees Naminé in his unconscious. It's unclear who's reaching who or if it just happens, but Naminé for her part can sense him and he [uselessly] tends to ask who she is.
• Grass is Greener: Well, not really that he wanted to go to a different country or anything, but...Roxas became jealous of the visions he had of Sora and his friends. To the point where he actually betrayed and left Organization XIII because he wanted friends and love so badly. The result? He gets tricked by DiZ into merging with Sora. Not quite what he wanted.
• 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 Roxas' fighting style relying more on aggressive close-range swings.
• The Gift: One of the strongest Keyblade wielders shown, to the point he was the second strongest member of the Organization even at less then half his full strength. Exactly why he has so much power is unclear, but it likely has something to do with having started his existence with access to both Sora and Ven's power, both powerful Keyblade wielders themselves .
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Roxas is less impulsive than Sora, but far more quick to anger. He is short-tempered, aggressive, blunt, and stands his ground against his foes. When blinded with anger, he lets go of all reason and focuses on venting his anger, as seen when he continually hacks at DiZ's computers and viciously attacks DiZ's hologram. DiZ seems to think that Sora could actually benefit if he shared Roxas' bad temper.
  DiZ: You should share some of that hatred with Sora. He's far too nice for his own good.
• Half-Identical Twins: Averted. Roxas and Naminé were born out of Sora's body due to Sora carrying both his and Kairi's heart, but Roxas was the one who inherited the body, literally, and Naminé has no body to speak of (her existence is more than likely lesser than that of a Nobody). She wasn't necessary for Sora to return and had nothing to return to him, 100% fully assimilating into Kairi, and was able to coexist with him, unlike when she came in contact with Kairi herself, wherein she began to fizzle out after freeing her in KHII. They have similar hair and eye color, but they aren't literal twins and don't look like each other beyond being blue-eyed blond(e)s. invokedWord of God states in an interview that the reason for Naminé’s look is because he wanted her to be "ethereal", like a ghost, and the decision was purely aesthetic. In the KHII novel, Naminé does note that them being born at the same time is similar to the concept of how twins are born at the same time.
• Heroic Neutral: He's more concerned with living life with his friends than dealing the schemes of the villains, going so far as to blindly follow the Organization's instructions. His only real heroic actions are prompted by an ultimately vain attempt at reuniting with Xion after she fades away.
• Hesitant Sacrifice: He doesn't want to be absorbed back into Sora, but by the end he realizes he has to and accepts it.
• Iconic Item: Not the first Keyblade wielder, but he is the most associated with the Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblades thanks to being the first Keyblade dual wielder.
• Identity Absorption: At the start of II, Roxas has to return to being part of The Hero Sora and clearly feels that this will happen to him. He is seen again a couple of times, when some particularly powerful psychic influence causes him to re-emerge briefly, but Roxas was basically correct to consider the merge to be his own death. Outside of those moments, the only trace of him that remained showed itself when Sora found himself crying when he said goodbye to Roxas' friends, who he thought he'd only just met.
• Improvised Weapon: In Mission 31 of 358/2 Days, as lampshaded by Xion. Roxas WAS still able to use magic with it, though.

Xion: "Roxas, that's a stick."

• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: A variation. By the standards of the series, he should be a seething ball of darkness (and Nobodies already have an affinity for darkness by default). Despite this, he shows a strong alignment with the light element and only uses powerful light magic like Holy in battle, and otherwise has no evidence of dark powers aside from the Corridors of Darkness that just about everyone in interspace can utilize somehow. This is because when Sora turned into a Heartless, he was pure darkness. The expelled light (combined with Kairi being part of it) would have created Roxas, a Nobody of pure light. His appearance also screams that Ventus is a crucial part of his makeup as well. Also Sora's Heartless was a SHADOW, the weakest kind of Heartless out there. Sora's heart had very little darkness in it to begin with.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: He's a blank slate at first since he was created without Sora's memories. His bright blue eyes reflect how everything is new to him and he's almost as peppy as Sora at times. Then it's subverted when the weight of everything that happens to him makes him far more moody and cynical.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Another difference with Sora is their heroic status. Oftentimes, Roxas shows how he'd rather not have anything to do with the Keyblade, longing to be an ordinary life. This is something represented in Hayner, Pence, and Olette throughout the series, as he is shown a number of times watching them in wonder and interest.
• I Shall Taunt You: Calls out "Over here!" or "Too slow!" every time he dashes away in III, sometimes in bursts of two or three times in a row.
• I Surrender, Suckers: In Kingdom Hearts II, Roxas "falls on his knees and begs", at a foe's request, getting him within reach of a weapon. The leisurely "pick a weapon" phase after it, however, defeats the point.
• I Will Wait for You: Played with. Once he regains his memories he agrees to wait for Axel "in the next life" (once they've both become whole again), but while Lea retains Axel's memories (rendering them more or less the same person) the same can't be said for Sora, who sees Roxas as someone who deserves to be his own person anyway.
• Jerkass: Not the genuine article, but Data-Roxas in coded. He is extremely resentful of everyone and spends the entirety of the Castle Oblivion level urging Data-Sora to break people's hearts because it'll be quicker to get his trials over with, and they're just hunks of data that no one else knows about and that Data-Sora will forget about immediately after, so who cares? This is because Data-Roxas is dealing with two different layers of What Measure Is a Non-Human?. He's a Nobody and a data copy at that.
• Joke Weapon: An umbrella with the Casual Gear.
• Kill the Ones You Love: When Xion's nature as a replica who can absorb beings becomes dangerous to Roxas, he ends up on the perpetrator's side of her Suicide by Cop gambit.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: It's implied Diz replaced his memories with data, therefore Roxas forgot his time as a member of Organization XIII and thought himself to be a normal person.
  • Also the case when he first came into being. Due to the unusual circumstances that led to his creation, he didn't inherit the memories of his original self like the other Organization members did. Which is part of the reason why his personality developed into one separate from Sora's.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Roxas is Sora's Nobody. In his debut game, this was a big part of the plot, serving as the major plot twist of the opening act of the game. In any and all games featuring him since, this fact is always brought to the front from the very beginning, and is considered one of the defining aspects of his character.
• Leitmotif: "Roxas".
• Light 'em Up: With skills like Event Horizon and Magic Hour, as well as in his Boss Battle in Kingdom Hearts II.
• Light Is Not Good: It starts out that way, since's he's not exactly on Sora's side at first, but he gets better.
• Lightning Bruiser:
  • As a boss, he's faster than Sora, hits just as hard, and can repel virtually any oncoming attack with his light shields.
  • He's the most powerful companion in III as a result of this; unlike the other Keyblade wielders in Keyblade Graveyard, his attack AI has virtually no downtime, and he spends much of the battle either shredding Saïx with combos close up, teleporting around the battlefield to avoid attacks, firing projectiles from his Keyblades, or surging in as an explosive particle of light. About the only things that stop him from completely Stunlocking Saïx to death are the boss' immunity frames, and his own AI's lack of an aerial combo to punish stuns. His AI's rather refreshing emphasis on dodging away from attacks, then teleporting back in during openings with a stun — instead of just blindly rushing into a Desperation Attack like other melee fighters — gives him some of the highest uptime among party members to boot.
    • All of this before Re:Mind, which makes him playable once more. Uniquely among the playable allies, his Dodge variant can be used multiple times in succession without pause, and can be immediately used mid-combo or followed up by ranged attacks or a gap-closer. KH2's "Reversal" command also makes a return as part of his arsenal, so he can quickly get behind targets to set up a beatdown.
• Limit Break: He has two.
  • Event Horizon, one that he shares with Xion, It allows him to encase his Keyblade in light to slash at enemies with great strength. During the Final Limit, he summon four pillars of light around himself that quickly move away in straight paths to the ends of the field, dealing heavy damage to enemies in his way.
  • When Dual-Wielding, he has Magic Hour, It consists of him jumping a few feet off the ground, then summoning the pillars of light to rain down randomly around him. The Final Limit increases the size, speed, and strength of the pillars, and also shields Roxas in a cloak of light.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Hayner, Pence, and Olette are this for Roxas.
• Locked Out of the Loop: During his time with the Organization, Roxas has no idea what's actually going on with their plans, nor why the other members except for Axel treated Xion with indifference or even disdain. He has no idea who Sora is and that he's Sora's 'Nobody', and he also doesn't know that Xion is actually a replica who was created to duplicate his powers. Even as Axel and Xion themselves eventually realize the truth of what Xemnas has been planning for them, they independantly choose to keep Roxas in the dark due to their own uncertainty of what to make of it or what can be done. The secrecy gradually begins to wreak havoc on the trio's friendship, even as they all try to hold it together. Ultimately, this is the reason Roxas runs away from the Organization, because the secrets and lies pile up so bad that by the time Roxas realizes everyone's been hiding things from him, the frustration and betrayal runs so deep that he can't bear to stay there anymore.
• Lonely Piano Piece: His leitmotif, "Roxas", is largely done with a piano.
• Making a Splash: When playing as him in ReMind, the only offensive spell he has access to is Waterga. Interestingly, this is the only element in III that he didn't have access to in Days.
• Magic Knight: He is a self-trained swordsman and, with the right Panels equipped in Days, also a decent mage. He displays less prowess in magic later on, as he relies more on his Dual Wielding attack style.
• Magic Missile Storm: His most dangerous attack during the boss fight against him involves blasting Sora with a torrent of orbs of Light energy. During his Data Rematch they're fast enough that it's impossible to dodge them without glide.
• Manipulative Bastard: Not the main article himself, but Data-Roxas seemed to have picked up a few tricks from Marluxia in coded.
• Master of All: He is one of the most destructive characters in the whole series, and has very high speed, good strength, high vitality, and strong magical powers. It's mainly his recklessness and temper that do him in most of the time rather than a lack of firepower.
• Morality Pet: To just about everyone in the Organization before his Heel–Face Turn, and Axel in particular.
• Multi-Directional Barrage: His Event Horizon Limit in Days fires giant pillars of light in all directions.
• Must Make Amends: After killing off Xion, he tries his best to respect his dead friend's wish—by setting all the hearts that both he and she had collected free from Kingdom Hearts and foiling Xemnas's plan for gaining ultimate power. The way he goes about doing so wasn't really what Xion had intended him to do to begin with, and it was all because he wanted his life with Xion and Axel back. Riku stops him from going about his suicidal rampage to confront Xemnas, setting the stage for II.
• My Eyes Are Leaking: Roxas, as a Nobody supposedly does not feel emotions. That doesn't stop him from crying in his dreams, however, and he writes about his confusion over this in his journal:
  The dreams have gotten stranger. Now I wake up with water on my cheeks. I don't know how it got there, but I think there's something really wrong with me.
• Nice Guy: While Roxas is more short-tempered and blunt then Sora, he is still a happy, cheerful, kind, and carefree individual in good company, and like Sora cares deeply for his friends and is extremely protective of them.
• No-Respect Guy: Throughout all of Days he does a huge number of missions for the Organization, runs a number of side jobs for many members, and by the end of the game has become the second most powerful member according to invokedthe Ultimania, which is seen when he utterly floors Saïx. And yet he's still treated like a do-nothing rookie. This is somewhat Justified, as the Organization developed Xion with the plan to eliminate Roxas anyway.
• Nothing Left to Do but Die: Downplayed, but once his data version has fulfilled his role he tells Sora that there's nothing left for him to do but go away.

O - Z

• Percussive Therapy: Towards the end of the Prolonged Prologue in II, Roxas regains (some of) his memories of his time in Organization XIII, and realizes that he's spent the past six days living a fake life before he could be sacrificed to revive The Hero. Angry at the deception, Roxas attacks a nearby computer terminal to blow off some steam.
• Personality Powers: Zigzagged, though he can be cheerful, happy and heroic, he also spends a lot of time being moody, and wrestles with Clone Angst due to being Sora's Nobody. It's less of a subversion if you associate him with the light of sunset, as the names of his attacks imply.
• Power Floats: During his Limit Break in his boss fight, he floats into the air before cascading orbs of Holy down upon Sora.
• The Promise: In a deliberate echo in II, Roxas makes a promise that he'll meet up again with his friends in Twilight Town. Sora fulfills it vicariously for him, and gets the Oathkeeper keyblade for doing so.
• Punch-Clock Villain: He doesn't have any idea what he's working towards for most of his life, and he doesn't really take any pleasure in his work.
• Purposely Overpowered: In III he can absolutely destroy Saïx even without Sora's help. Considering he defeated Saïx alone in 358/2 despite being drained to a fraction of his power, it makes sense.
• Quest for Identity: Why he left the Organization in the first place. Roxas was sick of being in the dark, realizing just how little he really knew of himself. Since no one is willing to answer who he is and his connections to Sora, he decided to find the answers for himself. So he ditched Organization XIII to find out who he was before becoming a Nobody, or even if he was someone before that. At least, that was the idea; DiZ had other plans for him.
• Rage Against the Mentor: It's Axel's evasiveness about Xion and Roxas' natures that directly leads to Roxas' leaving the Organization. For the most part, Axel keeps the information under his hat because he believes it to be something Roxas ''really'' doesn't need to know. That doesn't stop it from undermining Roxas' trust in him, though.
• Raised as a Host: Young Xehanort says as much about the Organization's true plans for Roxas towards the end of 3D. They needed thirteen vessels to fill with a piece of Master Xehanort's heart to form the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness, and Young Xehanort says Roxas was deemed a prime candidate from the moment Xemnas found him. Unfortunately, Roxas grew his own mind and heart and thus was unsuited for the role.
• Really Was Born Yesterday: In the game's first hours, Roxas is a "newborn" so to speak in Days. He barely knows any words, doesn't know what friendship means and he is clueless about just everything. Later on, he develops more and grows a spine, gradually becoming the way he was in II. it's justified because he is Sora's Nobody and born without any of his original self's memories.
• Rebellious Spirit: Roxas has a devil-may-care attitude in terms of recklessness, he can be rightfully selfish in certain intervals, but is selfless enough to return to Sora willingly. Roxas constantly rebels against what he's told is his "place" and is a strongly outspoken, independent individual.
• Recurring Dreams: Roxas falls into a coma for several weeks. After awakening, he begins experiencing strange dreams and visions, due to Sora's memory restoration. As Naminé nears the completion of the task of restoring Sora's memories, Roxas soon begins seeing brief fleeting memories of Sora through a number of his dreams.
• Red Baron: The Key of Destiny.
• Redemption Demotion: Though more because he has amnesia than because he left the Organization.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
  • Struck with grief from Xion's death, Roxas returns to The World That Never Was, planning to "set Kingdom Hearts free", in compliance to Xion's last words. He also desires to save Xion from within him, hoping that freeing Kingdom Hearts would bring her back. Then, they could go back to Axel and all have ice cream together. Upon his arrival, Roxas is attacked at Memory's Skyscraper by countless Neoshadow Heartless, which surround him. Roxas draws out his Keyblades, ready to defend himself, However, even after slaying many Heartless, he realizes there are too many to fight alone. Luckily, Riku suddenly appears at the scene on top of the Skyscraper, and Roxas, influenced by Xion, throws his Oblivion Keyblade at him as he runs up. Riku manages to catch it, however, and they both defeat the Neoshadows once on the ground. After the dark remains clear, they immediately turn on each other.
  • An implied one with his attempt to usurp control of their mutual body from Sora, seeing as it takes place shortly after his best friend died for Sora's sake. Roxas makes his move when Sora reaches Memory's Skyscraper, where he had once fought Riku. His Samurai appear and surround Sora as Roxas, cloaked, confronts Sora and pulls him to the Station of Serenity within their hearts. Sora is surprised by the cloaked, Keyblade-wielding figure, believing him to be Riku, but Roxas scoffs and demands to know why Sora was chosen to exist over Roxas. After looking at the Station and realizing that Sora's strength comes from the bonds he shares with others, Roxas makes one final attempt to conquer Sora, but Sora is able to assert his control over Roxas's Keyblades, taking them from the Nobody and dealing the finishing blow. Roxas falls to the ground, satisfied, and acknowledges Sora as a good "other".
• Sanity Slippage: When Roxas is confronted by Riku after Xion dies, Roxas's unhinged dialogue indicates that he has somehow convinced himself that if he fulfills Xion's Last Request to set Kingdom Hearts free, she'll come back and his life will with her and Axel will go back to the way it was.
  • Roxas in the prologue of II definitely has trouble coping with Twilight Town's Mind Screw, his dreams' Mind Screw, and the Organization's Mind Screw. He also has some weird emotional responses and zones out constantly. Reviewing the game after beating Days would seem to imply a kind of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder bleeding over.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Roxas finds out the truth of Xion's identity from Axel, learning that she is a Replica and not a true member of the Organization. Hurt that Axel had knowingly withheld her identity for so long, Roxas begs Axel to tell him his true identity, but Axel refuses. Angry and distrustful, Roxas follows Xion's example and flees the Organization himself. Saïx attempts to stop Roxas from exiting the castle. Roxas defeats him, and departs. On his way through Dark City, Roxas encounters Axel, who attempts to persuade him to stay, warning him that the Organization would destroy him for his betrayal. Roxas continues on his way, saying, "No one would miss me."
• Ship Tease: With Naminé in II and Xion in Days.
  • With Naminé. They first cross paths in the prologue in Kingdom Hearts II, and though they only interact a few times, the pair quickly build up a strong bond, with Naminé vowing that they will meet again one day, even if they initially aren't able to recognize each other. This is, of course, because they're the Nobodies of Sora and Kairi. There's even a scene before the final battle with Xemnas where, prior to their complete merger, Kairi has Sora promise they'll spend every day together when Naminé expresses joy over the prospect of being reunited with Roxas. Sora mentions in III how Roxas is one of the people that will miss Naminé deeply if she doesn't come back, and like in the Big Hero Six world for Hayner, Pence, and Olette, he gets emotionally triggered from within Sora as he gazes at Naminé’s room window once they reach the Twilight Town mansion, visually flashing over him. Xion's Character File in the KH3 Ultimania implies Naminé lives with them in Twilight Town.
  • With Xion. She fulfills pretty much every aspect that would make her look like Roxas's love interest in any other work, but because they 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. Along with their friendship with Axel, Roxas and Xion's relationship is the main focus of Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, and her death in the climax includes them having an emotional conversation as he cradles her in his arms and she caresses his face. At the same time, Xion outright says she loves Roxas and Axel in one of the secret reports, but it's meant platonically with no differentiation between them that she notes. One of their mutual Keyblades is named after a poem dedicated to parting lovers, but Xion is basically a gender-bent version of him in Mission Mode and uses all the same Keyblades he has as a result, so it might be more thematic. During the Re:Mind DLC, they do get a new scene together with Roxas saving Xion from an attack of the Xehanort Replicas, but nothing romantic is implied in the short interaction afterwards other than a quick thanks and nod. His and Xion's entries in the Kingdom Hearts 3 Character Files book also state that Roxas only returned after Xion appeared in the keyblade graveyard, and Xion in turn only returned because Roxas called out to her from within Sora. 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.
• Signature Move: The series first Reaction Command, Reversal. You'll be using it a ton throughout the intro of Kingdom Hearts II as it's an extremely fast flanking dodge that warps you around the enemy who triggered it. The move is commonly associated with Roxas in numerous ways, such as being both the first Reaction Command Sora can pull off himself and seeing great use in the battle against Roxas in II Final Mix. It also makes a come back during the final battle against Xemnas, where it becomes massively upgrade and highly spammable so the player can dodge around Xemnas's thorny spikes of energy. During the Re:Mind DLC for Kingdom Hearts III, Roxas can use Reversal as a Situation Command to defeat Saix.
• Single-Stroke Battle: He can initiate a Press X to Not Die event like the Samurai Nobodies he's in charge of. Winning the duel against Roxas allows Sora to temporarily steal his Keyblades, while losing causes Sora to take a significant chunk of damage.
• Single Tear: He gets one after he kills Xion at the end of Days.
• Skilled, but Naive: Justified. He didn't have any memories at the first parts of Days, but quickly learned how to fight thanks to the other members of Org XIII teaching him. As shown throughout the game, he didn't know many things that would be trivial to other people and kept asking Axel about it.
• Skyward Scream: Roxas, upon discovering that all of his memories are fake, that he has no right to exist, and that to restore Sora's memories and wake him up, Roxas must be sacrificed. He attempts to attack DiZ for putting him through all of it, only to find out that he isn't even in the room, just showing him a projection of himself. Roxas's anger, despair, and frustration reaches a boiling point there, and he just screams. Poor kid has gone through some serious sh*t.
• Smarter Than You Look:
  • Roxas seems have a certain degree of intelligence that Sora often lacks, as he is not as easily fooled by his enemies and is more likely to think his actions through unless angered.
  • This is slightly changed when it came to Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, because unlike his future self that had thorough knowledge of subjects in the fake Twilight Town, Roxas was born with no memories when taken in by the Organization. Hence, he had no information on the simplest topics or objects, making him comparable to a newborn who grows to learn them, and coming off slow and naive due to it, leading a few others, including himself, to refer to him as a "zombie". This is why Axel fulfills the role of enlightening him about his questions or thoughts, sometimes making Axel himself tongue tied on how to explain them.
• Something Only They Would Say: During his fight against Riku, he gets tricked into saying something only Sora would say to be thrown off his concentration.
  Roxas: Why don't you quit?
  Riku: Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that.
  Roxas: Huh? Get real! Look which one of us is winning.
• Split-Personality Merge: With Sora (his original, whole being, twice as of Dream Drop Distance), Xion (a clone of Sora's, and by extension Roxas himself), and possibly Ventus (whose heart is part of Sora's). ... It's complicated.
• Storm of Blades: His thirteen shape-shifting columns of light rush throughout the battlefield destroying anything in the way.
• Sword Drag: Does this with his Keyblades during a cutscene fight in II.
  • Does it again during his Combination Attack with Lea and Xion in Re:Mind.
• Tears of Remorse: He cries after defeating Xion, even though by this point he can only remember her name via prompting and can't even remember it was him who did it.
• That Makes Me Feel Angry: After all of the crap Roxas had to endure, he finally confronts DiZ. By this time, Roxas is pissed-off and exhausted, but what line does he deliver? "I hate you so much!" Justified, as this is coming from a 15 year old who had his best friend betray him and seemingly die by his hand, a girl who spoke with him just to be kind get taken away to God-Knows-Where by his tormentors, his happy life in Twilight Town revealed to be an illusion and on top of it all, has now just found out the hated foe that appears to stand before him is nothing more than a hologram and in the end, there is no escaping his fate. Really, at this point. what else is there to say?
• Token Good Teammate: He, alongside Axel and Xion, is this for Organization XIII.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Both in the end of Days about his connection to Xion, and in the prologue to Kingdom Hearts II, when he is regaining his memory. At the end of the prologue, Roxas finds out that he's Sora's Nobody, his normal life in Twilight Town is a complete lie because he was living in a computer simulation with tampered memories to placate him, and he was the 13th member of Organization XIII. He has to give up his physical form in order to return to Sora so he can finally wake up from his slumber.
• Took a Level in Badass: For most of his existence, he wasn't all that impressive, mostly used as nothing more than a tool. However, when he quits the Organization, he's able to defeat Saïx, Xemnas's Number Two, when he's only at less than half his peak strength. He's not even tired afterwards, while Saïx is keeled over in pain. This level appears to stick for his later battles with Xion, Riku, Axel, and Sora, even though he loses two of those.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Sea-salt ice cream.
• Tragic Keepsake: Roxas obtains the ability to wield the Oblivion keyblade after Xion disappears, essentially turning Oblivion into one for her. Oblivion also symbolizes 'the state of forgetting or having forgotten', which is linked to the fact that the memories Roxas had of Xion began to disappear at that time.
• Transferable Memory: In 3D, Roxas meets with Sora in a dream and transfers the memories of his life into Sora.
• Trauma Conga Line:
  • The horrible stuff that happens to this guy could fill a book. The poor guy has no memories, all he knows is that he can use a Keyblade and it's important he kill Heartless. When he asks questions of his allies to try and figure out the things he ought to know but doesn't, they treat him like an idiot for that reason. At least Xion eventually figured out that the Organization was using both of them, Roxas doesn't clue in until practically the end of the game and thus spends most of his single year of life working for people who exploit his abilities and plan to kill him once they're done with him. The only really happy time in his life is the last week, when he's implanted with fake memories and is imprisoned in a virtual reality simulation - and he has to find out it was all a big lie in the worst way possible, and once that week is up, he is forced to merge back with Sora.
  • In Dream Drop Distance, Sora meets with Roxas in a dream and Roxas transfers his memories into him, meaning Sora experiences the entire Trauma Conga Line at once.
• Tyke-Bomb: After the Organization found Roxas newly spawned and with no memory, they indoctrinated him to serve their goals with the hope of him eventually replacing the original Sora entirely.
• Undying Loyalty: Seems to have instilled this in his Samurai Nobodies, as they still serve him even after his defection (and possibly killing several of them on the way out of the Castle That Never Was). To say nothing of the first, lone Dusk who still called Roxas "my liege" weeks after that same leave.
• The Unfought: In the World That Never Was, Roxas starts a battle with Sora before losing and finally giving in. In the vanilla version of KHII this is just a cutscene, while Final Mix made it an actual gameplay battle.
• Unnecessary Combat Roll: In Days, he gets access to Sora's Dodge Roll, which he can upgrade to different effects. Like Sora, his gives him a short period of invincibility.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Played With.
  • As the first dual-Keyblade wielder introduced in the series - something which in of itself takes great finesse and technique to properly pull off in addition to nobody else doing so as frequently or even shown to have the ability to do so in the first place besides Sora himself - Roxas demonstrates the utmost of skill with his Keyblades, with his sword style being fast paced, offensive, and graceful. However, Roxas doesn't know anything about using a Keyblade beyond it being a sword. Best seen in his fight with Sora, himself a self-taught Keyblade wielder: Roxas overpowers him with brute force, but Sora is able to catch him off guard and win by calling his Keyblade to his hand. Despite this being one of the more basic attributes of the Keyblade, Roxas appears completely surprised someone can do that.
  • In a case of Gameplay and Story Integration, Roxas's fighting style and movements are also not quite as refined as Sora's in II. Though, this can can be justified by the fact that he lost of his memories of training with the Organization during the prologue.
• Visual Pun: Perhaps not intentional, but the “X” charm he wears as a zip-pull. In music, an X next to a note denotes a Double Sharp.
• Vocal Evolution: Roxas was one of earliest roles in Kōki Uchiyama’s career and he was fifteen when Roxas first appeared in Kingdom Hearts II. As such, Roxas in Japanese sounds vastly younger in his debut compared to how he sounds in later installments, a change which is especially noticeable when comparing Uchiyama’s performances in the new cutscenes for the HD II.5 ReMIX rereleases to the original cutscenes from the 2005 release.
  • Jesse McCartney's take on Roxas has been pretty consistent but his voice clips for Roxas' grunts and yells in combat in II are noticeably deeper and more mature than Roxas has ever sounded since. He generally sounds more youthful in combat in later games.
• Wall Run: In the Sequel Hook movie of the first game's Final Mix, Roxas runs up a skyscraper as he and Riku fend off Neoshadows together.
• Weapon Jr.: Initially, he only carries around a "Struggle Bat" in his series debut, which has a shaft covered in some nerf-like foam material. It's alright for defending against bullies like Seifer or doing random odd jobs around town that involve smacking things. However against real threats like Heartless or Nobodies, it's completely ineffectual.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: He gets confused when he sees how much Belle and the Beast love each other, and doesn't understand it even when Axel tries explaining it to him.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Roxas is kidnapped and forced by several heroic characters to merge with Sora, so that Sora could wake up and fight the dual threat of the Heartless and the Organization. The people trying to broker this merger refuse to acknowledge Roxas as an individual on the basis that he's technically Sora's zombified body. Dream Drop Distance shows that the merge was by no means perfect, and that Roxas still exists as a personality within Sora. At this point though, Roxas himself has come to peace with his situation; Sora is the one who objects. In fact, Sora objects to this so much that bringing Roxas back into existence becomes a major plot point of Kingdom Hearts III.
• Workaholic: Can barely figure out what to do with a day off, and says he can maybe handle a week. It’s actually sorta sad.
• World's Best Warrior: Is bar none THE greatest companion the players gets in III and possibly in any of the previous installments by virtue of being the only who doesn't need Sora’s participation in the Boss Battle to cause mountains amount of damage to said boss and is capable of defeating him all by himself without the player needing to lift a finger in the Boss Battle.
• Worthy Opponent: Sees Sora as this after their confrontation.
  Roxas: "You make a good Other."
  • A line from Saïx before his boss fight in II implies that he does respect Roxas as a warrior, however begrudgingly.
  Saïx: Only you could have made it this far, Roxas.
• Yin-Yang Bomb:
  • While Roxas primarily uses Light-based attacks, he's the first character in the franchise to dual wield keyblades when he gains Oathkeeper and Oblivion, symbolizing Light and Darkness as well as Sora's bonds with Kairi and Riku.
  • In III, he weaponizes this with the Dual Shot attack that spins both weapons to fire bullets of light and darkness at Saïx.
• Younger Than They Look: He looks, sounds, and acts like a teenager due to being produced from a teenager's body, but in reality, he's really only about 2 years old by the events of Dream Drop Distance.

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"I think I understand. I see myself the way you remember me. And you see yourself the way I remember you."