Characters / Kingdom Hearts: Organization XIII

aka: Organization XIII

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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The Original Organization XIII from left to right, Demyx, Luxord, Xaldin, Xigbar, Axel, Roxas, Xemnas, Xion, Saïx, Marluxia, Lexaeus, Zexion, Larxene and Vexen

The Thirteen Seekers of Darkness from left to right, Dark Riku, Terra-Xehanort, Xion, Marluxia, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, Young Xehanort, Master Xehanort, Vanitas, Xemnas, Xigbar, Saïx, Luxord and Larxene

This is a listing of the Members of Organization XIII that appear in the Kingdom Hearts series. Visit the main characters index here for other characters who appear in the series.

A group of thirteen (temporarily fourteen) villains introduced in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, though it was not formally named until Kingdom Hearts II. When someone with a strong heart is turned into a Heartless, the discarded body gets up with a life and will of its own as a Nobody. This group of particularly powerful Nobodies, who were able to retain human form on top of "existing" in the first place, seeks to regain their hearts at whatever cost.

Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] reveals the true purpose of the Organization: they were Master Xehanort's second attempt to gather thirteen darknesses to complete the χ-blade, each member intended to become a vessel for a piece of Master Xehanort's heart; the whole regaining hearts and completing Kingdom Hearts for Xemnas was really just Plan B. Several members turned out to be unfit for vessel status, but Young Xehanort and Xemnas pull from either the most loyal members or ones with ties to the ancient legacy of the Keyblade War to form the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness.

Their original human forms also appear in the series under different names. Several can be found here, while Xemnas's human form is here, Xigbar's is here; Saïx's is here, Axel's is here, Marluxia's and Larxene's are here, and Roxas's is here. Both the original Organization and their successor group in the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness and their rankings are listed here.

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General

While the Organization is a pretty varied group, the following tropes are universal throughout both the original Organization and the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness:

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• Adaptational Comic Relief: As a whole they have far more comedic moments in the manga compared to the games.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed in the manga. The members of the Organization in general have more Pet the Dog moments than they do in the games at least from the perspective of Roxas. Lexaeus, Xaldin, and Saïx are stand-out examples considering how they are normally.
• Ambiguous Situation: With the reveal that Nobodies can grow hearts it leaves the question of whether the Organization members were faking their emotions or were feeling real emotions without knowing it. Axel obviously grew a heart after befriending Roxas, but what about the other members?
• Anime Hair: Quite a few of them to varying extents. Axel is the biggest offender.
• Anti-Debuff: The game 358/2 Days has 13 different status effects, lining up with all 13 members of the Organization. Predictably, every member has a certain resistance to being affected by their element's status effect with the percentage of resistance increasing every several levels until it maxes at 100% immunity to their respective status effect.
• Anti-Villain: Most of the first iteration of the group. Apart from Xemnas, Larxene, and retroactively Xigbar, they're incomplete beings that are trying to regain their hearts and become whole again, though they go about this by antagonizing Sora and attacking worlds. In a conversation with Roxas, Naminé even admits that she's not sure if the Organization is truly good or bad.
• Ascetic Aesthetic: Their two headquarters, The Castle That Never Was and Castle Oblivion utilize this aesthetic. The cold and empty design fits the similarly hollow and incomplete Nobodies.
• Back from the Dead: In Dream Drop Distance and III, the Organization's members all return as their original human selves, though some have already chosen to cast their hearts off again.
• Badass Bookworm: The first six members were Mad Scientists before they got their Evil Makeover.
• Badass Crew: Oh, most definitely. The first Organization XIII retained their human forms that don’t have hearts due to their strong wills, and they are extremely skilled warriors in combat. The Seekers of Darkness are a group of fighters that have the strongest connections to Master Xehanort, it speaks volumes during the second Keyblade War how it took multiple keyblade wielders aided by other strong, experienced fighters to put these guys down for good.
• Badass Longcoat: All of them wear those awesome black coats that often flare dramatically when they fight and/or use their powers.
• Black Cloak: As stated above, all of them wear black coats that hide their faces when the hoods are up.
• Breakout Villain: The original Organization XIII proved to be popular enough to be Promoted to Playable in their own Gaiden Game, 358/2 Days, which itself got an manga adaptation.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: There is very little trust amongst both incarnations of Organization XIII. Marluxia and Larxene, and Saïx and Axel, are planning to usurp Xemnas, Xigbar is up to his own agenda, and Lexaeus is more loyal to Zexion than to Xemnas. This continues into III, where three of its members secretly work against Master Xehanort, Larxene openly asks Marluxia if he's interested in staging a coup (again!), Xion turns on the group when the chance presents itself and Luxord is implied to pull a Redemption Equals Death / Heel–Face Turn by giving Sora something helpful as he dies. Saïx also toys with leaving the group, but doesn't.
• Co-Dragons: Saïx and Xigbar. The former is more of an administrator/enforcer, handing out missions and punishing dissenters, while the latter keeps to the background while covertly working towards Xemnas's more private goals.
• Combat Tentacles: Strange jagged monochrome tendrils that pierce through anything that gets in their way though only Xemnas, Marluxia and the Twilight Thorn ever actually weaponize them. For the other members they merely occasionally manifest during certain attacks. Notably any time a member activates their Limit Break in 358/2 Days, they'll briefly be surrounded by these "thorns".
  • In 358/2 Days, they apparently set up barricades composed of these thorns during missions to keep Organization members from entering areas unrelated to the mission or are otherwise too currently risky to be wandering around in.
• Connected All Along: Thought that IX through XII were picked just because they had strong hearts? Turns out that Xemnas deliberately added them because their past selves were involved with the legacy of the Keyblade War in some way.
• Cursed with Awesome: Congrats on being turned into a Nobody! Even if you lose your heart, you now have access to either one of several unique abilities (energy projectile, polymorphism, super strength) or if you were of strong will before losing your heart you can retain physical and magical ability you had in life. However, judging from Braig's appearance in Birth by Sleep, it's possible that they already had some form of their powers before becoming Nobody.
• Dark Is Evil: They're all wearing those black coats and as Nobodies seem to have a natural affinity with the Darkness with Xemnas, Lexaeus, Zexion and Marluxia being the most explicit about using Dark Magic. Every single member has also played an antagonistic role at some point though their overall morality is rather varied.
• Death In All Directions: At some point or another, they've all demonstrated very powerful abilities which wreck mass havoc and kill nearly anything in range (which in some cases is larger than a football field).
• Desperation Attack: Every member at some point or another during a boss fight against them will make use of a single incredibly damaging attack or sequence of attacks when their health falls below a certain threshhold of HP. In II and onwards, it's usually identified by some specific quote as well as the environment darkening as they attack. By the time of III, these sorts of attacks may even be accompanied by a unique, brief cinematic.
• Doomed by Canon: With 358/2 Days taking place between I and II, we know that all of the members sent to Castle Oblivion get wiped out with only Axel surviving. There's also the subject of Xion who debuts in said game despite there being absolutely no mention of a 14th member in II. There was no way her story was going to have a happy ending there.
• Dysfunction Junction: Given that all Nobodies are born when an eldritch monster rips their heart out robbing them of the ability to feel emotions, this is to be expected. It's to the point that the group's stated goal is simply to return to being relatively normal people.
• Elemental Powers: Each member has some sort of affinity. Some of these are a bit unintuitive: for instance, time is an attribute, but represented in-game only as putting timers on things. Xemnas' Nothingness manifests as tentacles and red energy beams (Ethereal Blades), which at first glance doesn't seem to have much to do with The Power of the Void. Nothingness is actually a material (essentially flesh; it's what Nobodies are made of) that can be hardened into energy, or manipulated as appendages and is inimical to everything in the Light and Dark Realms (hence the "void" part). This counter-intuitive approach to Elemental Powers causes occasional confusion.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: They will also absorb the element they possess and will receive very heavy damage from the one they are weak to. Due to the element system in II not accounting for "water" element spells, however, this leads to the odd situation where Demyx is counted as an "ice" element enemy, and weakened more heavily by fire spells.
• Evil Counterpart: The Thirteen Seekers of Darkness are this to the Seven Guardians of Light in III, the two factions inevitably clash in the second Keyblade War.
• Evil Is Bigger: With the exceptions of the younger, more heroic Roxas and Xion, the members of the organization all tend to tower over the heroes.
  • There's evidence to suggest that this is invoked with the former Apprentices of Ansem The Wise who all seem to be noticeably taller as Nobodies than they were as humans based on comparisons of the character models. This is most evident with Xemnas who's more than a head taller than his original form of Terra when comparing the two in Data Greeting mode.
• Evil Laugh: Every member except Roxas and Xion has engaged in this at some point or another. In II, the seven remaining members of the Organization even take part in a collective Evil Laugh at Sora's expense.
• Evil Make Over: According to Ansem's Reports in II, those Nobodies born from wills strong enough to retain their human form and join the Organization have certain subtle physical differences from their former human selves. In any case, all members don their own Black Cloak regardless of the clothes they wore before and have become a major threat to the universe at large.
• Evil Versus Evil:
  • They got into a hard competition with Maleficent and her allies for the claim of Kingdom Hearts. Since they had more knowledge about the powers of darkness, they were for a time one step ahead, but when Maleficent and Pete allied with Sora, King Mickey, and the rest of the group in the endgame, they eventually lost the game to them.
  • Quite a few of the members end up plotting and scheming against one another with very few of them having any particularly noble intentions. This is most evident in Chain of Memories where every member in Castle Oblivion ends up scheming against another though this does nothing to keep them from coming to blows with the heroes.
  • Subverted with Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. While the members of Organization XIII are aware of Ansem and his nature as Xemnas’s Heartless counterpart, they never oppose each other as they are literally working for the same goal, if one succeeds, then Master Xehanort wins. It’s played slightly straight however, when Ansem possesses Riku’s body to kill Lexaeus.
• Faux Affably Evil: They can be rather personal and polite if they wish, but the façade is rendered moot by their lack of emotions and horrific deeds.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Axel, Vexen, and Larxene respectively and specifically in Chain of Memories where the three of them worked under Marluxia's authority and each fight Sora twice.
• Flawed Prototype: What the first incarnation of the Organization was, thanks to the efforts of Sora, Riku, King Mickey and the rest, which is what led to the the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness: made of thirteen more suitable hosts for Xehanort.
• Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind: Those Black Cloaks and their unconventional hairstyles and accessories make for an unusual-looking group but for a number of them, their fashion is often at odds with their personalities with certain stand-out examples listed below.
• Gambit Pileup: Marluxia and Larxene were plotting to overthrow Xemnas and take control of the Organization, as were Saïx and Axel, which results in Axel playing the Double Reverse Quadruple Agent in Chain of Memories — he goes to Castle Oblivion on pretense of Xemnas' orders, but he actually went to eliminate Xemnas' loyalists for the sake of his plan with Saïx, and pretends to join Marluxia and Larxene's alliance but ultimately betrays them. Larxene and Marluxia meanwhile know they're being watched by Lexaeus and Zexion, and Vexen goes between both groups to conduct his experiments. Then Dream Drop Distance revealed that Xemnas had been manipulating all of them by grooming them to be vessels for Xehanort's heart, and it's implied none of them knew at the time. The only members who aren't secretly scheming against the others are Xigbar, Xaldin, Demyx, and Luxord...until Kingdom Hearts III came around and revealed Xigbar is actually Luxu and Luxord has a connection to Yozora. And of course there's also Roxas and Xion who betrayed the group for their own reasons. This is all lampshaded by Sora in II when Saïx tells him that Axel has gone rogue.
  Sora: Not a very organized Organization.
• Grand Theft Me: Xemnas's entire reason for forming the Organization was to gather together 12 new hosts for Master Xehanort's plans. MX has already begun the process of taking over Braig/Xigbar and Isa/Saïx, explaining why their eyes turned gold and their hair is of a lighter color than in their respective games.
• Guest-Star Party Member: In 358/2 Days, every member of the Organization except Saïx and Xemnas accompanies Roxas on at least one mission, though he's usually expected to complete missions all on his own. Towards the end of the game, the events that occur drive him to solve his problems on his own with disastrous consequences.
• Have a Nice Death: During any of the boss fights against Organization members in III and its DLC, you will get a specific message from them based on who you were fighting if Sora dies during the fight.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: It's unclear whether or not it's actually leather but their signature black coats resemble leather trenchcoats anyway being dark, thick, durable and shiny.
• Humanoid Abomination: They are described as living rifts in the way things work: their existence defy the natural laws of the universe in a way that the Heartless do not. Since the very basis of their lives breaks physics (or whatever passes for it), they gain tremendous power over the arcane and the elemental. Doubles as a Bishōnen Line.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Aside from Xemnas in Final Mix, there's no mention of them at all in the first game. Still, very few will contest that they aren't the most iconic group in the franchise, with the original incarnation being the more-well known example.
• Immortality Begins at Twenty: Based on those we've seen pre-transformation. Aeleus, for instance, looks the same as Lexaeus, but the Nobodies who lost their heart at a young age (Zexion, Axel, Saïx) all continued to age normally. This could also be a case of Not Allowed to Grow Old.
• Improbable Weapon User: While most of the Organization wield fairly plausible weapons, some of them prefer less conventional weapons like a book, a sitar, and playing cards. If it wasn't for the fact that it's a well-known weapon in the universe, Roxas' giant key-sword hybrid "keyblade" would qualify as well.
• In the Hood: All of their coats have hoods attached to them and all of them at one point or another are seen wearing it up.
• It Was with You All Along: In Dream Drop Distance, Sora learns that Xemnas and Xigbar purposefully concealed from the Organization the fact that Nobodies can naturally develop a new heart over time. The promise of hearts was to string them all along, while he convinced them all that any emotions they had were fake which isolated them and kept them from maturing a new heart leaving them as potential empty vessels. Sora is suitably outraged by this revelation.
• King Mook: Each Organization member commands their own unique type of lesser Nobody. Their controlled Nobody class fights with a much weaker version of their signature fighting style.
  • Specifically, Xemnas: Sorcerers, Xigbar: Snipers, Xaldin: Dragoons, Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion: all unknown, Saïx: Berserkers, Axel: Assassins, Demyx: Dancers, Luxord: Gamblers, Marluxia: Reapers, Larxene: Ninjas, Roxas: Samurai, Xion: unknown (but most likely none).
• Knight of Cerebus: During the original Kingdom Hearts, all of the villains — even Maleficent and Ansem — turned out to be rather silly and hammy. Generally the series became much more serious in general once the Organization showed up. Their first appearance in Chain of Memories ^note (Unless you count Xemnas' Early-Bird Cameo as a Superboss in the original game's Final Mix release, which was notably very dark and challenging) is a attempt to brainwash Sora by using and abusing a teenage girl, even their more quirky members tend to be much more difficult boss fights than any of the villains native to the world, and their plans to create havoc among the worlds are much more outright dangerous than the Disney villains like say Pete despite frequently similar goals. Goldfish Poop Gang these guys definitely aren't.
• Lack of Empathy: As Nobodies, they cannot truly feel anything and thus have no qualms about putting others in danger to achieve their goals... or so Xemnas led them to believe. Many of them display it, eagerly embracing the idea that they have no hearts.
• Legion of Doom: The Thirteen Seekers of Darkness, introduced as the main antagonists in Dream Drop Distance and returning in III, are all made up of previous villains faced by the heroes. The only exception is Young Xehanort who's essentially a new character, but this is made up for by him being The Heavy of Dream Drop Distance.
• Leitmotif: "Another Side", various remixes of which appear as battle themes and other themes relating to the group.
  • "13th Struggle" is the battle theme most associated with their members, appearing first in Chain of Memories and returning for the Axel and Luxord battles later in the series. Interestingly, portions of it from the latter half of the song would end up being incorporated into the main melody of the field theme of their base of operations, The World That Never Was.
  • The members present in Castle Oblivion are more associated with the rather unique "Thirteenth Discretion" which makes a return in III along with said members.
  • The self-titled "Organization XIII", shortening "Another Side" to its slow, somber intro. It's become the primary Leitmotif of the Organization as a whole from II onwards.
  • The battle theme "13th Dilemma" which is associated with the members introduced in II except Luxord.
  • "13th Reflection" from Final Mix II which is the battle theme of the Absent Silhouettes of the members who have already been eliminated in Chain of Memories. Due these fights being rendered non-canon, it's far less ubiquitous of a theme for Organization members.
• Let X Be the Unknown: The "X" theme is a mark of Xehanort's ownership, otherwise known as the "Recusant's Sigil".
• Lightning Bruiser: While normal boss fights against them vary, as Optional Boss fights in the Final Mix+ just about all of them are this in at least one phase of the fight.
• Limit Break: Every member of the original Organization as well has their own unique Limit Break in 358/2 Days which can only be activated once their health has fallen below a visible threshold as indicated by the yellow portion of the healthbar. It varies from character to character but for the most part, it's effectively a temporary Super Mode, granting Super Armor as well as some unique character-based attack. The Final Limit ability also gives them access to a stronger variation halfway through its duration. These attacks are all heavily based on attacks the Organization members use during boss fights against them.
• Limited Wardrobe: Only seen wearing their signature black cloaks. Justified since their cloaks protect them from disappearing when travelling on the Corridors of Darkness.
• Magic Knight: Each and every one of them wield an unique weapon and attribute that they use together whenever in battle.
• Manipulative Bastard: Most of them really though it varies from member to member. There are certain stand-out examples as noted below in their personal folders.
  Sora: These guys, they show up, and instead of fighting fair and square, they go for the heart and say things to try and get under your skin.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: In their boss fights in II, most of them have a unique gimmick that makes their battles play significantly different from other enemies in the game, and particularly make prominent use of unique Reaction Commands. This is emphasized even more in Final Mix, where the members fought initially as Absent Silhouettes are even more unusual than the others, and in their Data Rematches all of them emphasize their unique traits even more.
  • While Xemnas is the most "normal" one, he still has a unique, timing-based Reaction Command where he and Sora have a mid-air clash as Xemnas leaps down at him from Memory's Skyscraper. As the Final Boss, naturally he has a very large and powerful moveset.
  • Xigbar will leave the arena to snipe Sora from afar until you use Reaction Commands to force him back down, and he can change the layout of the arena to make it harder to get to him as he teleports around and shoots at you with his arrowguns.
  • Xaldin will use Aero magic to shield himself, knocking Sora back on contact and raising his defense to make him Nigh-Invulnerable. You have to use his Reaction Command to "learn" the Jump skill, which will remove his protection.
  • Vexen is constantly aided by a crest on the ground that moves to track Sora and scans data from him, allowing Vexen to create Anti-Soras to aid him, and the more data he scans the stronger they get. Vexen is also immune to damage until his shield is destroyed, and he'll recreate it as soon as he gets an opening.
  • Lexaeus doesn't significantly change his attack patterns save for his Desperation Attack, but as the fight wears on his power meter grows and his base attacks become stronger. Blocking his attacks opens him up to a Reaction Command to temporarily steal his power for Sora and deal a powerful attack that stuns him.
  • Zexion will trap Sora and his allies in his lexicon, transporting them to a pocket dimension where copies of the lexicon will attack them until they find the one that represents Zexion and use the Dispel Reaction Command on it to escape the lexicon and return to the normal arena.
  • Saïx will charge a Berserk gauge, and when it fills he's almost invincible and becomes very fast and powerful, attacking with great fury. Grabbing one of the claymores he leaves behind in the wake of his attacks will let Sora use a Reaction Command attack to knock him out of his Berserk state for a short time.
  • Axel will set the arena on fire, dealing continuous damage to Roxas/Sora^note The damage to Roxas is extremely minor, while the damage to Sora will reduce him to low HP in seconds., and will leap behind the wall of flames around them to launch surprise attacks unseen. Use of a Reaction Command when he tries this allows you to knock him to the ground and temporarily remove the fire hazard.
  • Demyx will summon Water Clones, and if you can't destroy them all within a time limit, Sora is instantly KO'd. Use of Reaction Commands on them to deal wide area-of-effect damage and round them up closer together is very helpful for this.
  • Luxord doesn't have an HP bar, he has a time gauge, which you must deplete by attacking him, and you also have a time gauge to keep an eye on in addition to your HP. Playing one of Luxord's games can stun him and steal some of his time gauge to restore yours, but fail the game and you'll be temporarily transformed into a card or die while Luxord steals some of your gauge to restore his.
  • Marluxia will cast Doom on Sora, creating a number over his head; each time Sora gets hit the number decreases, and if it hits 0, he's instantly KO'd. You can restore the number by blocking one of his attacks and using a Reaction Command. Otherwise most of Marluxia's attacks don't actually damage Sora, they deplete his Doom counter, and his main attack that does deal damage covers the arena in dark portals that take a big chunk out of Sora's HP.
  • Larxene will clone herself and her clones can attack and be attacked independent of each other, letting her chainstun you with continuous attacks from multiple angles. Using a Reaction Command can temporarily merge her clones back together and make her much easier to manage.
  • Roxas' fight is the most downplayed example; his Reaction Command lets Sora temporarily steal his Keyblades, giving his combos some extra hits and forcing Roxas to rely on his magic attacks until he steals them back. The difficulty of his fight is that he's a Lightning Bruiser par excellence, and will quickly wipe the floor with Sora if you don't learn how to properly block and dodge his attacks.
• Me's a Crowd: They're an integral part of one orchestrated by Master Xehanort to recreate the thirteen incarnations of darkness needed to forge the χ-blade. Xehanort intended to use his own dark heart split across all the members to achieve this though it takes until a second incarnation of the group for him to succeed.
• Mind over Matter: Quite a few of them show some skill in this, though it's mostly limited to manipulating their weapons in this manner. Xemnas is the crowning example, with the novel tactic of telekinetically tossing entire buildings at his enemies.
• Mook Carryover: When the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness were created, while some members were time traveling versions of Xehanort or villains from other games, about half the members were just taken from the previous Organization. Larxene even lampshades this.
  Larxene: What is this, Organization Rehash?
• Mortality Phobia: They are told that should they perish, they will fade away completely leaving behind nothing. While their willingness to do anything to reclaim their hearts can be chalked down to their inherent inability to feel sorrow or regret for their actions, nearly all of them display some form of genuine horror or anguish in their dying moments though there are a couple exceptions.
• Named Weapons: Aside from the Keyblades used by members throughout both versions of the Organization, 358/2 Days reveals that all of the weapons used by Non-Keyblade wielders have official names.
  • Xemnas’s lazer swords are known as the Interdiction.
  • Xigbar’s guns are collectively known as the Sharpshooter.
  • Xaldin’s spears are part of a set known as the Lindworm.
  • Vexen’s shield is known as the Frozen Pride.
  • Lexaeus’s sword is called the Skysplitter.
  • Zexion’s spellbook is known as the Book of Retribution.
  • Saïx’s signature claymore is fittingly called the Lunatic.
  • Axel’s chakrams are called the Eternal Flames.
  • Demyx’s sitar is called the Arpeggio.
  • Luxord’s playing deck is known as the Fair Game.
  • Marluxia’s scythe is named the Graceful Dhalia.
  • Larxene’s knives are known as the Foudre.
• Obviously Evil: That hooded Black Cloak they all wear make for an incredibly shady-looking group.
• Only One Name: When renamed by Xemnas, they all only retained one name. Whether or not this is always true of their times as being humans is unknown, but also seems to be the case by the looks of those we've seen.
• Optional Boss: "Absent Silhouettes" of the members killed in Chain of Memories appear as optional bosses in II Final Mix. All thirteen members have extra-hard Replica Data battles accessible within the Cavern of Remembrance. Both instances are considered non-canon since in III Sora, Donald, and Goofy don't recognize Marluxia or any other Castle Oblivion Organization members.
• Oxymoronic Being: As many characters explain, the simple matter of the fact is that they should not exist at all, and yet, are able to.
• Personality Powers: All of the members have a personality that fits their "Attribute," though a few fit in non-typical ways.
• Person of Mass Destruction: The strongest members are the Organization are this. Their skill and abilities with their chosen weapon combined with their mastery of their element allow them to deal devastating damage over the entirety of the locations they're fought in with frightening ease.
• Power Floats: Every member to varying extents showcases this at some point in a boss fight against them.
  • In the mission mode of 358/2 Days, every member has access to "Glide" allowing them to either travel around through the air or simply hover in place with both options having them slowly descend until they're suspended just above the ground.
• The Pretty Guys Are Stronger: Definitely. As dangerous as the more monstrous-looking lesser Nobodies are, those Nobodies in the Organization that have retained their human form are far stronger.
• Promoted to Playable: Every single member is playable in the Mission Mode of 358/2 Days.
• Red Baron: Each member has a title that reflects their personality and element.
• Remember the New Guy?: In-Universe example. Due to the events of Chain of Memories, Sora, Donald, and Goofy don't remember any of the Organization members that were killed in Castle Oblivion so when they make a reappearance and personally address the the trio with familiarity, there's understandable confusion.
• Savage Spiked Weapons: Due to most of their weapons incorporating the Nobody Sigil into their design, their weapons tend to be rather jagged and pointy compared to those wielded by the heroes. Many of their alternate weapons in 358/2 Days also follow this design philosophy.
• Serial Escalation: In the original Organization, Roxas was the only member who fought Sora directly with Keyblades, while Xion wielded one due to being a copy of Sora. However, in the new Organization, Keyblade wielders are much more prevalent, with Young Xehanort, Terra-Xehanort, Master Xehanort, Xion, and Vanitas all using Keyblades directly against their foes and wielding considerable magic powers on top of that. Xigbar hopes to be bequeathed Master Xehanort's Keyblade but it is revealed in III that he is in fact the true owner and lets Master Xehanort use it to deflect suspicion away from him.
• Sigil Spam: With the exception of Xemnas, Roxas and Xion, Each member's weapon incorporates the Nobody Sigil into its design or at least certain elements of it. This even applies to their other non-signature weapons in 358/2 Days.
• Significant Anagram: Their names are actually scrambled versions of their past names with an X added. Of their original names only Demyx and Luxord remain unknown.
• Slasher Smile: Every member pulls one of these at some point or another, usually while facing the heroes. It's certainly intimidating and considering how they aren't supposed to be able to feel emotions themselves, that's probably the intent.
• The Sociopath: Almost every member except for Roxas, Xion, and Axel (and in Axel's case, it's only after befriending the other two; before that, he was quite sociopathic). Literally being heartless doesn't leave much room for empathy.
• Somebody Named "Nobody": Just because they're empty souless shells doesn't stop them from having names and personalities.
• The Soulless: Not literally, however. A Nobody is composed of the body and soul of a being with a sufficiently strong heart whose heart has been taken by The Heartless. However, their emotionless state renders most of the trope valid.
• Specifically Numbered Group: Organization XIII. That said they only have 13 members for a rather short period of time. In fact, at one point there was 14 members in the original Organization. By the time the Organization comes into prominence to threaten the universe after the prologue of Kingdom Hearts II, five of their number are already killed (temporarily) by Sora, Riku or Axel, Xion has already ceased to exist (again, temporarily), and Roxas has merged back into Sora, leaving them with only six members.
• The Speechless: The Absent Silhouettes in Final Mix II derived from the members who were eliminated in Castle Oblivion are all incapable of any form of verbal communication. Thus unlike the remaining members who will taunt and/or verbally threaten Sora throughout their fight, the Absent Silhouettes will only grunt, yell, or perform an Evil Laugh. This has the side effect of making them all come across as rather Ax-Crazy.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: They all summon their weapons out of nowhere prior to boss battles against them with the exceptions of Xemnas and Zexion who do this mid-fight, as well as Lexaeus and Saïx who are already holding their weapons prior to meeting the heroes. Some have rather elaborate summoning sequences with Demyx's, and Xaldin's being the most notable.
• Standard Evil Organization Squad: Their goals were shrouded in mystery and each member is distinct from each other, and they all wear a black cloak and hood.
• Stepford Smiler: They use their memories of their past lives to give the illusion of humanity, though they are actually devoid of emotions. Subverted, in that Xemnas suppressed the regrowth of their hearts by never telling them that they CAN regrow hearts, thereby tricking them all to think that they were truly soulless.
• Strong and Skilled: A more group wide example as some of the members may downplay this in one way or another. Nonetheless, as proven in their boss battles, each member are shown to be supreme in their assigned element and weapon of choice, with each and every one of them displaying a unique mastery when it comes to wielding both of those facets together in their respective fight. This is more notable with the first incarnation of the group as they are far more lacking in Keyblade wielders and/or the power boost given to them by being an incarnation of Master Xehanort, but still prove to have some of the most challenging fights in the whole series.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Xemnas, Xigbar, and Saïx have them. As 3D shows there's a reason for this.
• Teleport Spam: In Limit Cut, the Data versions of the real Organization will rarely be in the arena and almost all of their attacks involve them teleporting back into the arena before initiating their attacks and teleporting away right away. This makes it so Sora has to act very quickly to exploit their moment of vulnerabilities after their attacks. Of all the Data members, only Marluxia, Dark Riku and Young Xehanort have moments of The Slow Walk like bosses in the story.
• Tested on Humans: Most of the apprentices' Mad Scientist ventures involved human experimentation like turning people into Heartless.
• Tin Man: 3D confirms that Nobodies can develop new hearts over time. How many of them did is left vague, as Xemnas kept this a secret so they wouldn't even try to connect with others.
  Axel: Hey, wait — I'm enjoying this. You guys are something else!
• Tragic Villain: A lot of them seemed to be decent people before they became Nobodies.
• Theme Naming:
  • In Days most character's weapons all follow some sort of named theme Xemnas's are named after terms of authority and negativity, Xigbar's are references to the Final Fantasy franchise, Xaldin's are Religious and Mythological Theme Naming, Vexen's are cold and thinking terminology, Lexaeus's are minerals, types of trees, and other references to nature as well as Japanese idioms and literature references, Zexion's are synonyms for books and magic, Saïx's are moon-related, Axel's all refer to fire, heat, and explosions, Demyx has Musical Theme Naming, Luxord's are tarot cards, Marluxia's are all flowers, Larxene's are all in French, and Roxas's are light phenomenon and invokedreferences to the pain of loneliness.
  • As well every member's name is an anagram of their Somebody's name (at least those who were revealed so far) with an X added.
• Theme Table: Each member has their own unique element, weapon and title.
• 13 Is Unlucky: They're called Organization XIII and their ambitions have brought a lot of misfortune to the worlds.
• Two Girls to a Team: A villainous variation. In both the old and new Organizations, specifically two of the 13 (or 14) members are women, and oddly enough, they're on polar opposites of the Organization's morality spectrum: Larxene, and invokedXion.
• The Unfettered: They wish to regain their hearts, and whether it's either plunging a world or two into darkness or outright attempting to KILL someone, they don't care what they have to do to make that wish come true.
• Unnecessary Combat Roll: After unlocking Dodge Roll in the main story of 358/2 Days, you can enter Mission Mode where every member can engage in some amusing evasive rolling.
• Unwitting Pawn: The entire Organization was formed not to regain the members' hearts, but out of a combination of Xemnas wanting to attain the reality-warping potential of Kingdom Hearts and to facilitate a plot that would allow Master Xehanort to clone his heart among thirteen separate bodies, which will give him a true shot at forging the χ-Blade. The only members of the original Organization who knew their true goal were Xemnas and Xigbar.
• Vague Age: Every member except Roxas and Xion and maybe Xemnas. The most anyone has is that numbers I through XII are in their adult years, but where is anyone's guess until invokedWord of God clears it up, if ever. Making the matter more befuddling is Xigbar, Xaldin and Lexaeus appearing in Birth by Sleep as their original selves, but hardly ageing since. And with Zexion, Saïx and Axel an estimated guess could be made. The fact that IX through XII have connections to the original Keyblade War throws yet another wrench into the matter.
• Victory Pose: Every member gets a unique one in the Mission Mode of 358/2 Days when winning a match in the Olympus Colosseum. Some of them are based on animations of attacks they used when fought as boss fights in other games.
• Villain Episode: Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days which gives Roxas, Axel, and Xion starring roles, with Saïx, Xigbar and Xemnas developing into major antagonists as the game progresses. The other members that are fought in II each have a number of missions with Roxas where we get a bit more insight into their characterization. As for the non-Axel Castle Oblivion members, they understandably don't make it past the first third of the game and are merely relegated to mentoring Roxas on the basics of missions early in the game before disappearing from the plot.
• A Villain Named "Z__rg": A few of them, namely Xemnas, Xigbar, Xaldin and Zexion. They also reside in a relatively high-tech floating castle and they regularly invade other worlds and cause havoc to further their goals. Xemnas' original name of Xehanort probably counts too.
• Villain Teleportation: Several members get in on the action. The undisputed champion of this trope would be Fragile Speedster Larxene, who even possesses a sleight in Chain of Memories named Teleport Rush.
• Was Once a Man: Even though the members of the Organization have retained their human appearance, they're heartless Nobodies just like the decidedly less human creatures that they lord over and none of the characters consider them to be human including said members themselves. They do have memories of their past lives though, granting them greater individuality and personality than the lesser Nobodies and for most of them, the main driving force behind their willingness to do anything to reclaim the hearts they lost.
• You Are Number 6: All members are given a number to denote the order in which they joined, Xemnas being I, the original five apprentices being II through VI, VII and VIII were also apprentices sometime after Birth by Sleep, those involved in the Keyblade War in their past lives being IX through XII, and as the final member, Roxas is XIII. Otherwise the numbers are inconsequential concerning rank, aside from Xigbar, Number II, being The Dragon.
  • The rankings of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness were confirmed by invokedWordof God in the Character Files, Master Xehanort being I, his Heartless and Nobody being II and III respectively, IV through VIII being members of the original Organization who returned to being Nobodies that he deemed strong in no particular order, Terra-Xehanort being IX due to a side effect of Terra's body being reformed following Xehanort's return due to his Heartless and Nobody being destroyed, X to XII are those from the past who are connected to Xehanort, and XIII is Xion who is the closest they can get to having Sora after the events of Dream Drop Distance since she was made from his memories. Before they were completed, Xehanort still had Xigbar and Saïx serving him along with his younger self fetching the rest of the time-traveling members of the Seekers.
• Would Hurt a Child: None of them have any compunction towards physically or emotionally attacking children, as seen with Marluxia and Larxene's actions towards Naminé, Sora, Riku (Replica), and even their own members, Roxas and Xion.

The Original Organization XIII

Xaldin (III)

The Whirlwind Lancer (Original Name: Dilan)

"When Kingdom Hearts is ours, we can exist fully and completely. So you see, Beast — that's why we need your Heartless AND your Nobody."

^{Click here to see Dilan}

Voiced by: Yosuke Akimoto (Japanese), David Dayan Fisher (English)

Appearances: II | 358/2 Days

"Feed your anger! Only anger will keep you strong."

Number III of the original Organization and originally a founding member. He spends most of his time trying to corrupt the Beast for the Organization's purposes.

In his past life as Dilan, he was one of Ansem's six apprentices who betrayed him by researching the Heartless.

---

• Adaptational Dumbass: Is a complete buffoon in the manga barring a couple certain moments lifted from the games.
• Arc Villain: The only member of the Organization to play the role of the sole antagonist of a Disney World's plot arc. As a result, he also has the "honor" of being the only one to die in a Disney World.
• Adapted Out: While Luxord and Demyx retain their Wonderland and Olympus Colosseum missions with Roxas in the 358/2 Days manga, Xaldin's arc with Roxas regarding Beast's Castle and The Beast is notably absent. The closest equivalent we get is half of an issue where Roxas must search for a missing Xaldin which is quickly resolved for the sake of a joke.
• Adaptational Wimp: In the manga, he is a total joke who gets easily beat up by Beast and then killed by a replica of Vexen of all people.
• Animal Motifs: Dragons. He controls the Dragoon Nobodies, his Desperation Attack involves combining his lances to create a dragon, and a number of his weapons in 358/2 Days are named after dragons including his signature weapons, the Lindworm lances as well as the Wyvern lances said to draw from his personality. It could represent his sharp wit, and also his dishonesty, such as when Xaldin lied to the Beast about Belle's supposed treachery, as dragons are often used as a metaphor to represent liars.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Surprisingly enough, in Birth by Sleep his former self (Dilan) shows no signs of his eventual betrayal of his master and general douchebaggery. Instead, he is presented as both extremely loyal to his master and genuinely concerned for Ventus' well being.
  • Dream Drop Distance implies that none of the apprentices (save Terra-Xehanort and Braig) willingly gave themselves over to the darkness.
• Authority in Name Only: Just like Xigbar, his high ranking as a founding member has no bearing on the level of authority he has over the other members unlike the lower-ranked Saïx and Marluxia. Instead, he's treated like every other member, regularly being sent out to perform missions like reconnaissance or recruiting new members.
  • There is one cutscene in Final Mix II where he tries to exert authority over Axel when he tries to argue against the orders to eliminate Roxas should he prove too uncooperative. He even outright threatens Axel by tossing a lance at him, narrowly avoiding skewering his head whilst reminding him of the consequences of insubordination. Axel proves to be completely unphased by this so Xemnas who is also present has to step in and threaten to turn Axel into a Dusk to get him to submit.
• Back from the Dead: As Dilan in Dream Drop Distance within Radiant Garden and had undergone a Heel–Face Turn.
• Battle Aura: Once Xaldin starts to get low on health, he enters a berserker-like state, similar to Saïx, where he's shrouded in green energy and the screen darkens. Unlike Saïx and Lexeaus' Absent Silhouette, he can't be knocked out of it by Sora's efforts, only exiting this trance after a period of time. Expect to see it used more and more as the fight wears on, so stock up some Jump Reaction Commands to help expedite the process.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: His eyebrows are far more prominent than your standard fair in this organization.
• Blood Knight: Zig-zagged. He expresses excitement when facing off against the Dark Follower Heartless in a mission with Roxas in 358/2 Days but when Sora faces off against him in II, he's rather disinclined, stating "Where's the fun in this?" before beginning the fight. It's likely he simply doesn't consider Sora a Worthy Opponent considering his words about him in the newly added cutscenes in Final Mix II.
• Blow You Away: Xaldin controls the wind, granting him Flight, movement faster than the eye can see, the ability to manipulate his weapons without touching them, and powerful blasts of air.
• The Brute: Despite his large, broad-shouldered design, he's more of a downplayed example if not an outright subversion. His intelligence speaks for itself but his fighting style, as destructive as it is, uses a lot more dexterity and grace than other more brutal fighters like Lexaeus and Saïx.
• Butt-Monkey: Downplayed, but he has the most minimal role in the Organization out of all the founding members and has been sent to do the grunt work of recruiting new members. He's an effective villain in Beast's Castle, but the fact that he's there at all (and the way Belle socks him in the gut and steals his leverage away) shows he's not that respected among the Organization. In a Final Mix cutscene, he's told that if Sora can be killed by him, then he's no use to the Organization, with the implicit insult flying over Xaldin's head.
  • There's also that one other Final Mix cutscene where his attempt to exert authority over Axel to the point of threatening physical violence fails to register, forcing Xemnas to step in and do so instead.
• Cynical Mentor: Zig-zagged. Xaldin is never emotionally supportive of Roxas and often snarks at his more naive comments on missions, but most of the advice that he gives Roxas is actually quite accurate and useful, especially his comment about where a giant Heartless would attack from at Beast's Castle. He also generously rewards Roxas if his sidequests are completed.
• Death from Above: He has the signature Jump attack of a Dragoon from Final Fantasy. He also commands the Dragoon Nobodies directly based on the class.
• Death In All Directions: Expected from one of the more powerful Wind users like him.
• Demoted to Extra: He played a fairly substantial role in his debut in II, manipulating The Beast, a major ally from a significant portion of the first game and trying to turn him into a Heartless and a Nobody for the Organization's plans. In fact, he was the sole antagonist of an entire Disney world and the only member of the Organization to play such a role. He then takes on a supporting role in the prequel game Days, where we see the set-up for his later schemes in Beast's Castle. Since then, he's only been present in the series in the form of his original self, Dilan who barely gets any lines in the games he's appeared in, let alone actual interactions with the rest of the cast.
• Dreadlock Warrior: He has several long and thin dreadlocks tied together into a ponytail and is a very competent fighter.
• Evil Brit: In the English adaptation.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He can't understand why the Beast is so protective of his rose and Belle.
• Flash Step: He can literally outrun the winds. Abused to hell and back in the second half of his boss fight.
• Flying Weapon: Since he can't easily hold six lances at once he has several of them float around on drafts of wind.
• Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind: Boasts prominent sideburns, wild dreadlocks and flesh tunnels with earrings on both ears. The man himself is well-spoken and intelligent with an eye for art and architecture.
• Full-Contact Magic: Certain attacks have him kicking at the air to control the wind and by extent his lances.
• Genius Bruiser: One of the tallest, bulkiest members of the Organization as well as a former apprentice to Ansem The Wise. Though he's an incredibly skilled and powerful warrior, he's more dangerous for being a deviously intelligent, articulate, and gifted manipulator who deceives and exploits The Beast with ease.
• Heel–Face Turn: Once he is revived as Dilan in Dream Drop Distance and III, after his stint as a villain in 358/2 Days and II.
• Hopeless with Tech: He's portrayed as unable to use a computer in the Days manga. It's canonicity is unlikely considering how he was a former apprentice to Ansem The Wise.
• Hot Blooded Sideburns: His sideburns are big enough to have been a fandom joke back in the day, and he's a very physical warrior.
• Inconsistent Spelling: The North American release of KHII misinterpreted his real name as Dilin; the PAL release and all subsequent games rectified this.
• Irony: Despite warning Luxord that he may share Demyx's fate "if the cards aren't in [his] favour" Xaldin is the next member of the Organization to die while Luxord survives until the final Boss Rush of the game.
• Jack of All Stats: In 358/2 Days, he has average all-around stats though there is a slight bias towards Strength as well as a number of his weapons boasting strong wide-ranged combo finishers.
• Jerkass: In 358/2 Days. Just try to find a scrap of his dialogue that isn't insulting you or ordering you around. Let's not forget his attitude toward the Beast...
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As Dilan in Birth by Sleep. He's initially dismissive of Ventus, but worries for his safety once the latter runs off to chase after an Unversed.
• Joke Weapon: Casual Gear gives him broomsticks. Mystery Gear gives him dragon-themed lances.
• Kick the Dog: In nearly everything he does to the Beast. His diary entry in 358/2 Days shows he's bitterly envious of the Beast (hating how he has such a powerful heart, which Xaldin lacks, and yet squanders that power by giving in to the "weakness" that is love), so obviously he wants to do his damnedest to make him miserable.
  • He's also rather adamant that the proper response to Xion's desertion is to hunt her down and eliminate her having formed absolutely no sense of camaraderie with her whatsoever. He's baffled when Xemnas insists on bringing her back alive.
• King Mook: To the Dragoon Nobodies, who use similar weapons as him.
• Limit Break: Dragoon Storm. He swirls his lances around him just like he does during the boss fight against him in II. Pressing the attack button in this state makes him unleash a burst of wind and lances in all directions around him. For his Final Limit, he'll leap into the air and come crashing down with all of his lances in reference to the Jump attack that its namesake Dragoons perform in Final Fantasy. You can't technically jump during this limit, but the second limit has him leap into the air during the attack so it's not completely useless against flying enemies.
• Love Is a Weakness: His conversations with Roxas and his diary entry in 358/2 Days show that he is a firm believer of this.
• Manipulative Bastard: Spends most of his time playing with Beast's head to try and turn him into a Heartless AND a Nobody for the Organization.
  • The journal entry for his original self, Dilan in Birth By Sleep states that he's always been talented at manipulating others though his behavior in that game suggest that he was never as malevolent about it as he was as Xaldin.
• Mighty Glacier: Has a slower, more deliberate fighting style during his boss fight and will more often approach slowly until you're within range of his melee attacks. That said, he definitely picks up the pace once he's taken enough damage.
• Multi Wielding: Six lances. In official renders as well as boss fights against him in II and Union χ, he defaults to carrying two in his right hand and one in the left while the wind carries the other three behind him. In 358/2 Days, he goes for the more mundane method of carrying only one lance per hand though he will still summon the other four lances out of thin air for combo-finishers, magic attacks, blocking, and his Limit Break.
• One-Hit Kill: Very possible, especially during the fight with him.
• Personality Powers: He's nothing like the typical wind user. However, wind is considered the element of "Knowledge," something Xaldin had in spades as a Cynical Mentor.
• Pet the Dog: Downplayed in the manga. While he doesn't seem particularly empathetic to the conflicts Roxas has been having with his friends, he still tries to ease his concerns over them by telling him that things will sort themselves out on their own. Afterwards he gives Roxas a bag of delicious persimmons he'd been gathering as he doesn't want all of them to go to waste.
• Power Floats: Because he rides wind currents. He'll even perform The Slow Walk while floating.
• Purple Is Powerful: A powerful, high-ranking Organization member, whose six lances have a lot of purple on them and his eyes seem to be some shade of violet.
• Reverse Arm-Fold: One of his common "non-combat" poses — which makes sense, given his power and martial nature.
• Sadist: Once Xaldin unhoods himself, he is smiling in wicked pleasure in almost every scene he's in, showing just how much he is enjoying his psychological torment of poor Beast. A secret report in Days shows that this is because of his total personal disdain for Beast and all those who suffer from the "weakness" of love. He seems to prefer emotional sadism to physical, because once he's forced into battle, he states: "Where's the fun in this?"
• Sadistic Choice: He tries to inflict this on Beast. "What shall I leave behind? Belle... or the rose?" Beast chooses Belle, only for Belle to sucker-punch Xaldin and escape with the rose.
• Satellite Character: Downplayed — Xaldin's role is to be Number III in Organization XIII, but he serves more of a purpose in Kingdom Hearts II than Demyx or Luxord. With his assignments being isolated specifically to Beast's Castle, the fact he is primarily seen in only one world suggests he was intended to be a Suspiciously Similar Substitute to Forte. His strategy of using the Beast's anger to control him makes him very similar, even if the overall purpose goes beyond what Forte had in mind.
  • In Birth By Sleep, his human form, Dilan, has the least personality out of the first six Organization XIII members, which can be attributed to him not being as much of a Breakout Character as Braig/Xigbar and not having previously featured in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (as Even/Vexen, Aeleus/Lexaeus, and Ienzo/Zexion did).
• Shaping Your Attacks: He can combine his spears into a dragon-like construct that fires a wind blast from its "mouth".
• Shout-Out: Seemingly a minor one to Kimahri. Aside from the obvious connection of both being Dragoons, Sora's Reaction Command against Xaldin is to use the Blue Magic command "Learn" to copy his Jump ability, which is one of Kimahri's Overdrives.
• The Slow Walk: During his boss fight he may approach Sora, nonchalantly walking on thin air with an arm folded behind his back until Sora's within range of his lances.
• Smug Snake: Shown quite clearly in the Final Mix version of KHII when he lectures Luxord about how being too careless will cause him to "suffer Demyx's fate." Guess who actually ends up being the next member of the group to die?
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: In the English version, he speaks incredibly softly despite saying intimidating things.
• Sphere of Power: Surrounded by swirling drafts of wind during his boss fight to this effect. Much like Sora's Aero spell from the first game, it lessens the damage he takes though it dissipates if you successfully manage to stagger him. One of his attacks is to increase the speed of these winds while also adding his lances into the mix.
• Storm of Blades: One of his attacks has him rain down his lances upon Sora from above before using the Jump to come crashing down with all of his lances into a single attack.
• Turns Red: Makes heavier usage of his Flash Step abilities halfway through the fight after he's used his Desperation Attack once. It becomes much harder to avoid his attacks and land hits on him.
• Underestimating Badassery: He questions if Sora is really a Keyblade wielder and dismisses him as "nothing but a boy" after first meeting him in the added Final Mix II scenes. In the rest of the game, he doesn't seem to see Sora or any of his allies as threats. That very same group of heroes ultimately put an end to Xaldin's life.
• Uriah Gambit: With the reveal in 3D about the Organization's true purpose and the way Xaldin is told to fight Sora regardless of the damage it would do to the Kingdom Hearts plan, it's distinctly possible Xemnas was trying to get him killed.
• Villain Respect: Implicitly towards Roxas, perhaps due to spending so much time on missions with him in 358/2 Days. This is best revealed in his view of Sora, whom he dismisses as being just a child despite being the same visible age as his counterpart.
  • Most notably, Xaldin is the only newly introduced member of the Organization in Kingdom Hearts II who never refers to Sora as "Roxas".
• Vocal Evolution: His voice in the English dub gradually grew more gravely with each game. This is especially noticeable in Final Mix where older scenes are played alongside scenes that weren't included until years later.
• Wave-Motion Gun: His strongest attack during the boss fight against him involves blasting the arena with a stream of wind resembling one of these.
• Weapon Twirling: Weaponized for some of his attacks.
• Wicked Cultured: His wild looks aside, Xaldin seems to have a good eye for art and architecture in 358/2 Days.

Lexaeus (V)

The Taciturn Stalwart (Original Name: Aeleus)

"You've done well thus far. But to possess your powers, and yet fear the darkness... What a waste."

^{Click here to see Aeleus}

Voiced by: Tatsuya Kando (Chain of Memories), Fumihiko Tachiki (Japanese), Dave Boat (English)

Appearances: Chain of Memories | II: Final Mix | 358/2 Days

"I, Lexaeus, will not yield to the frail heart of an infantile coward!"

Number V of the original Organization and originally a founding member. While he's content with standing aside and letting Zexion do the talking, he's a lot more intelligent and powerful than he seems.

In his past life as Aeleus, he was one of Ansem's apprentices.

---

• Anime Hair: His slicked back hair would look pretty normal if not for those strange messy spikes sticking out it.
• Anti-Villain: invokedNomura himself describes him along these lines in the Japanese Character Report books.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Birth by Sleep shows Aeleus to have been a loyal and honorable man, before his betrayal of Ansem the Wise. However, as said above, he actually keeps his honor even under his new leadership.
• Back from the Dead: Revived in Dream Drop Distance as Aeleus in Radiant Garden and had undergone a Heel–Face Turn.
• Battle Aura: In every game he's in except for the original "Chain of Memories".
  • In Re:CoM, if he uses a magic card, he gains a yellow, glowing aura that boosts his attack and defense as well as grants him Immunity To Flinching. If he uses a second magic card in this state, it changes to red and renders him completely invincible except to Riku's card duel sleights.
  • In his fight in Final Mix II it starts out similar to that of a DBZ character and gets bigger and bigger every time he powers up until it practically fills the screen.
  • His Limit Break in 358/2 Days engulfs him in similar flaming energy that grows larger the longer you charge his attack.
• Berserk Button: It's brief and only occurs once but he gets uncharacteristically angry and violent when Riku tries to taunt him after his boss fight, pushing him to pull a Ceiling Smash on Riku and immediately knock him out.
  Riku: You're finished!
  Lexaeus: DON'T MOCK ME!
• BFS: That Axe-Sword of his must be at least a meter long, managing to look massive even in the hands of the Organization's largest member.
• Boring, but Practical: Unlike the other Organization members in II, Lexaeus doesn't have any particularly complex mechanics, flashy combo attacks, or the like, and his attack patterns consist of relatively simple swings of his axe-sword which he uses to create shockwaves of earth. He's still a very dangerous foe because he's just that powerful. While he does have a unique mechanic, it boils down to giving him a Battle Aura and powering him up, and the player can knock him out of the aura but only briefly.
• Brains and Brawn: The Brawn to Zexion's Brains though neither is particularly lacking in intelligence or combat ability.
• The Brute: But not stupid. He's built like a brick wall, wields a massive "axe", and his fighting style is built around crushing the opponent under boulders or sheer power.
• Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Lexaeus is the epitome of strong and silent, both his bulk and his earth magic being used in straightforward assault. The massive "Axesword" that he carries complements this: you know exactly what you're up against, and that won't make it any easier for you.
• Ceiling Smash: Inflicts this on Riku in the Chain of Memories remake.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Lexaeus can summon large rocks with a wave of his hand or, more commonly, by striking the ground with his weapon.
• Elemental Hair Colors: An earthy auburn brown to match his earth powers.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Tries to force Riku to embrace his power over Darkness so they can use his powers against the traitors in Castle Oblivion. He succeeds, allowing Ansem to take control of Riku's body again, and cut down Lexaeus shortly afterwards.
• Evil Laugh: In his Absent Silhouette fight, he'll laugh as he flies out of the ring before coming back in to strike like a meteorite.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Lexaeus has a voice that is grittier and deeper in pitch than his voice as Aeleus.
• Evolving Attack: In his battles in II, Lexaeus gains a Desperation Attack at lower HP thresholds, but otherwise his moveset is exactly the same throughout the fight, except they get stronger, creating shockwaves around him or summoning columns of earth under Sora, and as he powers up his attacks deal more damage and hit over larger areas.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: The nature of his abilities should logically destroy all his surroundings, but this does not translate to cutscenes. This is changed in the manga adaptation of Chain of Memories, where the aftermath of his battle with Riku left the floor in ruins.
• Genius Bruiser: He was counted as one of Ansem the Wise's apprentices, which speaks levels of his intelligence. In the manga, his hobby was playing with puzzles. The "bruiser" should be apparent with his build and strength.
• Ground Punch: One of his more basic attacks in II is to punch the ground to cause stalagmites to rise up.
• Ground-Shattering Landing: His Desperation Attack in II has him fly out of reach from the arena then crash down, making the earth upturn in the process.
• Guest-Star Party Member: He technically becomes a party member after his tutorial in which he teaches you about Limit Breaks but there's nothing left to do in the small area you're confined to but leave. You never actually get to fight Heartless alongside him in the Story Mode.
• Heel–Face Turn: Has undergone this since reforming as Aeleus.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Zexion in Castle Oblivion. It still sticks when he becomes Aeleus again.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The higher his power level during his boss battle in II Final Mix, the longer he'll stay stunned after you temporarily steal it with Mega Impact.
• Inconsistent Spelling: The North American release of II misinterpreted his real name as Eleus; the PAL release and all subsequent games rectified this.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: That chin of his could cut through diamonds.
• Limit Break: Ayers Rock, named after the famous rock formation landmark in Australia that's more well known as Uluru. By tapping the attack button, he'll perform a quick but strong Spin Attack, but holding it down long enough will charge the attack, engulfing him in a Battle Aura and releasing the button will perform a stronger Spin Attack with said Battle Aura dispersing as a Sword Beam for greater range. For his Final Limit, holding the button down even longer will engulf his Axe Sword in a massive pillar of rock which he will then slam upon the ground for an extremely damaging Shockwave attack.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Despite holding power over the Earth itself, in Days he has the worst Magic stat in the entire organization.
• Meteor Move: You expect a Reaction Command when he grabs Sora and the game shifts to a cinematic mode. He doesn't give you one and simply hurls you into the closest post or the ground.
• Mighty Glacier: Has one of the less mobile fighting styles any time he's fought but he compensates tenfold in terms of brutality and endurance. In Days, he combines the best physical stats, both defensive and offensive, with the slowest attack speed in the game.
• Mix-and-Match Weapon: His Axe-Sword as indicated carries traits of both axes and swords.
• Noble Demon: The most honorable man within the Organization, next to Luxord.
• The Only One I Trust: His journal entry in 358/2 Days reveals that he considers Zexion this.
• Perpetual Frowner: Doesn't crack a smile once in the entirety of his appearance in the remake of Reverse/Rebirth. He does have character portraits in CoM and 358/2 Days depicting him with Slasher Smile though.
• Personality Powers: Wields earth and is stalwart and quiet.
• Pet the Dog: His initial introduction to Roxas in the manga is by giving him a metal puzzle and hanging out to discuss the importance of patience and thinking as his training regimen. Inverted in the games, as he strikes Roxas hard enough to leave his HP in the critical to teach him how to use a Limit Break.
• Power Levels: Actually a mechanic of his optional boss fight in II Final Mix.
• Punch-Clock Villain:
  • He doesn't go out of his way to really antagonize anyone and is much less of a Jerkass than most of the other members. Despite some questionable methods, he did teach Roxas a critical skill to use when on his last legs.
  • Subverted in the original Chain of Memories when he uses the last of his strength to try and drag Riku down into the darkness.
• The Quiet One: He speaks the least among the entire organization.
• Retcon:
  • His weapon was called a tomahawk in Chain of Memories, but it was changed to an axe sword in 358/2 Days.
  • His original title, "Silent Hero", was changed to "Taciturn Stalwart" in 2.5.
• Satellite Character: The biggest example in the Organization to the point where all of his screentime in Chain of Memories is shared with Zexion with the exception of his confrontation with Riku. His role is mostly meant to fill in as Number V of the Organization, though this at least cements himself as one of the original founding members and establishes his interactions with Zexion and Vexen in Chain of Memories.
  • Aeleus (who is his original self) in Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance has slightly more individuality.
• Screaming Warrior: He's certainly quite a bit louder in combat, but it's mostly downplayed.
  • However, in stark contrast to his quiet, solemn personality, his absent silhouette in Final Mix II spends the entirety of the fight loudly grunting and roaring like a wild beast with the occasional Evil Laugh thrown in.
  • Similarly, his playable incarnation in 358/2 Days reuses the same voice clips leading to this.
• Sorry That I'm Dying: "Forgive me, Zexion. This was a fight I should not have started."
• Stern Teacher: In 358/2, Lexaeus teaches Roxas the use of limit breaks: an ability that unleashes a powerful attack when the health is low. How does Lexaeus teach this? When a Heartless appears, Lexaeus strikes Roxas so hard, that Roxas's health is low enough to quickly activate the limit break.
• The Stoic: Definitely one of the less emotive members of the Organization though having so few lines of dialogue contributes to this.
• Sword and Fist: He will dismiss his Axe-Sword to punch and grapple where appropriate, fittingly for his great size and Super-Strength.
• Sword Drag: One that literally tears through the earth as he does it for a standard attack.
• Sword Plant: He does this as a combo finisher for his ranged attack in II where the act causes stalagmites to rise up under Sora.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Tosses his Axe-Sword at Riku in both versions of his Chain of Memories fight. It acts as a boomerang somehow.
• Undying Loyalty: To Zexion. He considers him to be the only member he can trust and his dying words are spent apologizing to him for his failures.
• Unknown Rival: His journal entry in Chain of Memories specifically refers to Marluxia as a "rival" for trying to acquire Sora's power for himself and Lexaeus' decision to confront Riku was a response to such actions. Marluxia himself never acknowleges him once.
• Villain Respect: Compliments Riku for making it as far as he did in Castle Oblivion while still showing disappointment in Riku's refusal to tap into his powers over Darkness. He'll continue to occasionally commend Riku throughout the battle when taking damage and even ends his boss fight by telling Riku that he misjudged him.
• Weapon Across the Shoulder: Carries his axe-sword this way in Final Mix II and 358/2 Days.
• We Wait: States this word-for-word at one point and seems to be his and Zexion's go-to response to most of the events occuring in Castle Oblivion, opting to monitor the Castle's activities safely as Vexen performs his experiments with the Riku Replica and Marluxia tries to bring Sora under his control. The plan was for Vexen to be able to use the Riku Replica as a potential deterrant against Sora should Marluxia turn out to have treacherous intentions for the Organization. It's not until Vexen's demise due to interfering with Marluxia's plans that he decides to personally take action to keep Marluxia from having his way with Sora.
• The Worf Effect: A natural warrior and possibly the physically strongest member of the Organization. He actually succeeds in knocking out Riku after an intense fight. However, Once Ansem takes control of Riku's unconcious body, he makes quick work of Lexaeus, showing how much greater of a threat he is.
  Lexaeus: You are the Superior's...? Forgive me, Zexion. This was a fight I should not have started.

Zexion (VI)

The Cloaked Schemer (Original Name: Ienzo)

"It's such a shame. The Organization used to be the rope that bound us together."

^{Click here to see Ienzo}

^{Click here to see young Ienzo}

Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Japanese), Vince Corazza (English)

Appearances: Chain of Memories | II: Final Mix | 358/2 Days

"Then I shall make you see... That your hopes are nothing. Nothing but a mere illusion!"

Number VI in the original Organization and originally a founding member. In his previous life as Ienzo, he was an orphan adopted by Ansem the Wise, and the youngest of his apprentices.

During Chain of Memories, he tried to corrupt Riku so he could use him to counter Marluxia's coup.

---

• Adaptational Badass: Displayed absolutely no combat ability in his series debut in Chain of Memories and perishes before he ever gets a chance to. The updated re-release of said game as well as Final Mix II which is in itself an updated re-release give him boss fights that show he's just as capable of defending himself in battle as any other Organization member, unconventional methods aside.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: His hair is much darker in the manga.
• Adaptational Wimp: In the manga, he is immediately slain by Riku after his deception on Destiny Islands is unveiled.
• Adorably Precocious Child: Or at least, when he was Ienzo. Look at him;◊ he's shorter than Ven and still considered to be one of Ansem the Wise's more noteworthy apprentices.
• Affably Evil: Courteous and well-spoken. Downplayed since he can be stern with Roxas and Xigbar should he suspect them of slacking off and can be somewhat acerbic towards Roxas and Vexen at times. That said, he has nothing but praise for Roxas should he work hard for the Organization and is surpassed only by Axel and Luxord in terms of being the most supportive mentor to him.
• Anti-Villain: Despite being portrayed as a Deceptive Disciple, he doesn't seem to have any greater ambitions beyond supporting the Organization so they can all regain their hearts. Unfortunately that also paints Riku as a threat that needs to be eliminated.
• Attack Drone: His books act as these when fighting his Absent Silhouette.
• Back from the Dead: Revived in Dream Drop Distance as Ienzo and has undergone a Heel–Face Turn.
• Badass Boast: Look at his quote.
• Badass Bookworm: Literally! His weapon is the "Book of Retribution," and despite his status as a Smug Snake he came the closest to killing Riku out of all the Organization members, fought a Riku who was willingly using Dark Mode on surprisingly-even ground, and was at one point considered for the position of 2nd-in-command of the Organization.
• Big Bad Wannabe: He wants to be the villain of Chain of Memories and its Reverse/Rebirth mode, but he is neither (Marluxia and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness taking those roles instead.) That said, he is apparently high enough in the Organization that Saïx views him as a threat.
• Black Mage: More or less combines the attributes of almost every single offensive magical class in Final Fantasy, along with the Scholar from Final Fantasy III.
• Brains and Brawn: The Brains to Lexaeus's Brawn though neither is lacking in combat ability or intelligence.
• Casting a Shadow: Although his attribute is classified as Illusion, he has a notable motif of Darkness in his attacks, like Catastrophe and Meteor Mirage.
• The Chessmaster: Basically the brains of the operation when it comes to the basement-dwelling loyalists in opposition to Marluxia's rebellion. For all of his smugness, he's a pretty good tactical thinker; his plans for Riku may have very well succeeded... if it wasn't for Axel, that is.
• Climax Boss: Of Reverse/Rebirth in Chain of Memories, as he unwittingly helps Riku resolve the central conflict of his story: overcoming the fear of his inner darkness. He is also the last member of the game (but not the series) to be killed off.
• Colony Drop: For his Desperation Attack in Final Mix II, if you fail to reach shelter within the blue spotlight once it moves 13 times in a row, you'll be assaulted by meteors as he laughs all the while. This sort of attack is also present in 358/2 Days as his Limit Break.
• Corruption by a Minor: Ienzo is the one that convinced Ansem the Wise to build the secret lab where they could experiment on people's hearts.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Between losing his parents at a young age, being lied to that his adoptive caretaker went mad and abandoned him, having his heart forcibly removed while still being a child, and being forced to live the next decade as a literally heartless abomination working tirelessly to regain his heart, he hasn't exactly lived the happiest of lives.
• Deadpan Snarker: Very heavy on the deadpan and also quick to start needling other members like Vexen over perceived slights even if they are as minor as not giving him a proper greeting.
• Deceptive Disciple: Conducts himself as one during his time in Organization XIII, preferring to scheme under a veil of secrecy with only Lexaeus as a confidant. Fitting as he may have been the same way as Ienzo.
  • Ultimately subverted. He never expresses any greater ambitions beyond the Organization's goal of completing Kingdom Hearts so they can regain their hearts. When he ends up recompleted as Ienzo, he quickly sides with the heroes and feels regret for having allowed the others to trick him into supporting the Organization under the pretense that Ansem The Wise went mad and abandoned them.
• Domain Holder: His books can trap you in a Nintendo Hard Pocket Dimension under his complete control.
• Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud: His Cyclone Snatch which will steal your cards away with suction but only the tornado will damage you.
• Doppleganger Attack: Summons three of them during the battle with Riku, each with their own copy of Soul Eater. Luckily, destroying the three lexicon copies destroys the clones in-turn.
• Enfant Terrible: He was the one who convinced Ansem to start experimentation with the powers of darkness which escalated into forcing people to turn into Heartless.
• Evil Laugh: See here for an example. Pretty damn impressive.
• Evil Sounds Deep: While his voice was not particularly deep as Zexion, but once he's revived as Ienzo, his voice is noticeably lighter in pitch.
• Face–Heel Turn: In his backstory, he was the one responsible for giving Ansem the Wise the idea for the experimentation on the heart.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: His death in Re:Chain of Memories isn't as brutal as Vexen's, but it's still unnervingly more detailed compared to the generic "fading away" most Organization members get. The Replica, on Axel's insistence, puts Zexion into a Neck Lift and then drains him of his powers, with Zexion's pained, final breaths very obvious before he goes limp in the Replica's hand.
• Forced Transformation: He can turn his enemies into books and trap them within an illusory space inside the book.
• Fragile Speedster: In Days, he has abysmal physical stats but swift combos, though Larxene will usually be outperforming him in both speed and damage.
• Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind: His somewhat messy bangs and dark, Black Cloak give him a rather unruly appearance, but he's a loyal, polite Badass Bookworm.
• Glass Cannon: In Days, his poor defenses are balanced by his high Magic stat allowing him to quickly dispatch enemies, especially those with elemental weaknesses. He also boasts a high Crit Bonus stat on par with that of Saïx. Though he has a low Critical % stat, usage of Block-Counter and Aerial Payback for guaranteed critical hits can allow him to deal surprisingly heavy damage with physical attacks alone.
• Good Hair, Evil Hair: His hair turns out to be messier and more unkempt compared to his recompleted self's.
• Hair Flip: His Victory Pose in Days.
• Hard Light: Either this or Your Mind Makes It Real is implied to explain how his illusions can actually harm/kill you.
• Heel–Face Turn: He has undergone this since reforming as Ienzo.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Lexaeus, at least in Castle Oblivion. It still sticks when they become their original selves again.
• Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Without being emo, especially after he returns to being Ienzo once more. They fit his penchant for manipulation and deception but even that aspect of his personality fades away as Ienzo.
• Joke Weapon: The Casual Gear gives him a lexicon-sized sandwich called the Midnight Snack. Mystery Gear will give him a laptop computer though its name of Dear Diary suggest that he uses it as a diary.
• Life Drain: One of his abilities in his boss fight in addition to stealing your attacks. Possibly a victim of it too based on the energy the Riku Replica seemed to have had around him when he killed him.
• Limit Break: Meteor Mirage. Zexion will rise into the air and levitate his book as it glows with mysterious energy, manifesting shadowy meteors to rain down from above around him and explode upon impacting the ground. Pressing the jump button in this state will cause him to stop the attack, allowing him to move around to avoid attacks and/or reposition himself while pressing the attack button will make him continue his onslaught. His Final Limit is simply a a stronger version of the attack with the meteors being larger, falling at a faster pace and having larger, more damaging explosions.
• Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Zexion was actually in a position to become the 2nd in command. Saïx, being a Dragon with an Agenda, takes advantage of the traitor situation in Castle Oblivion and sends Axel to kill Zexion. In [Re:CoM,] Axel in particular notes that Zexion "just found out way too much". What he's referring to is never explicitly elaborated upon though it is true that Zexion was aware that Axel had personally betrayed and eliminated Vexen, a high-ranking co-founder of the Organization and their superiors never learn this fact.
• Master of Illusion: His primary power, apparently using darkness based magic to use it.
• Mind over Matter: Zexion controls his lexion telekinetically, able to strike people with it from afar.
• Nerves of Steel: Despite showing some apprehension at the sight of a DarkMode!Riku, he quickly buries it under rapidly growing anger and makes it clear he won't be holding back in trying to kill him the old-fashioned way.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: With the apparent power of illusions, he's the member of the organization with the least consistent abilities throughout his appearances though it's justified from a gameplay perspective each time:
  • In Re:CoM, he fights primarily via stealing Riku's cards to use against him, even manifesting a copy of his Soul Eater sword as well as summoning doubles to assist in his onslaught.
  • In Final Mix II, there's no card system anymore so his absent silhouette has the completely different tactic of trapping Sora, Donald, and Goofy in books, sending them into a Pocket Dimension where he assaults them with various magic and more copies of his books.
  • In 358/2 Days, he has another new, simpler fighting style to accommodate being playable with his combos involving him smacking enemies with his book. While some combo-finishers simply have him literally throwing his book at enemies, most have him manipulate his book in various, bizarre ways such as summoning various weapons from its pages, having the book sprout wings before flying into enemies, or expanding the book and having it snap shut on enemies as if biting them.
  • Just about the only attack carried between his appearances is him dropping meteors in Final Mix II and Days.
• Non-Action Guy: Spends more of his time plotting than fighting, and when he does, his fighting methods are rather unconventional. That said, players will quickly realize that to underestimate him because of that means to suffer a painful defeat, especially in Re:CoM, where the joy of having an unlimited DarkMode!Riku for the entirety of the fight is mitigated by the fact that he can steal your cards and use them for his own, extremely damaging sleights.
• The Nose Knows: He can track people by scent from long range.
• Occult Blue Eyes: Despite his position in the Organization his eyes are still just as blue as they were when he was Ienzo, not gold like Xigbar or Saïx's changed to.
• One-Hit Kill: Again a move he can pull on you during his boss fight, which makes sense considering he trapped you in his pocket dimension first.
• Out-Gambitted: Plays against Marluxia with far less success and only outlives him through no effort of his own. He then has his last plans for Riku utterly demolished by Axel.
• Personality Powers: Without a doubt one of the more cunning and enigmatic members of the Organization with a knack for deceiving his enemies, befitting his illusion-based powers.
• Personal Space Invader: His Dark Punisher sleight in Re:CoM in which he grabs Riku from behind and drains his HP. Only used after he's stolen enough cards from Riku's deck.
• Pet the Dog: In the manga, he introduces himself to Roxas by explaing the goal of the Organization before offering him a meal of fish that he prepared himself.
• Pocket Dimension: His books can trap you in one.
• Power Copying: In his Reverse/Rebirth boss battle, if Zexion steals enough of Riku's cards, he'll create his own copy of the Soul Eater and fight with Riku's abilities.
• Power Floats: Floats to move around during boss fights against him.
• Power-Up Letdown: In 358/2 Days his signature weapon, the Book of Retribution has some of the best stats out of all of his weapons but the most unwieldly combos out of any Organization member's signature weapon. His ground combo has far worse range than most of his other similarly powerful weapons while his aerial combo is incredibly weak at close range and requires super precise, nearly impossible positioning to deal full damage with the combo finisher (when the book expands at a far distance from him).
• Puzzle Boss: During the battle with Riku, the only way to get the cards he stole back is to destroy the three lexicon copies scattered around the area. This is also the only way to destroy the dopplegangers he summons to aid him. It's nearly impossible to beat him otherwise due to having a reduced deck and Zexion and his clones refusing to let up the attack.
• Reality Warper: His illusionary power is great enough to change reality.
• Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Subjects Riku to one by turning into Sora.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Not the shortest, but definitely among their ranks. Then he again, he is one of the youngest members despite also being one of the original seven to found the organization.
• Smug Snake: His youthful arrogance concerning his own intelligence proves to be his downfall.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Some of his combo finishers in 358/2 Days involve conjuring some sort of weapon from the pages of his various books to strike enemies. They're usually bladed with some resembling a polearm and others having multiple claw-like protrusions. A couple others seem to be some sort of blunt object, resembling a shield or the end of a Battering Ram.
• Squishy Wizard: He relies largely on his magic and illusions as opposed to physical combat when in battle. In Re:Chain of Memories, he is the only member of the Organization without a physical attack card, having to steal them from Riku and in Final Mix II he is defenseless when you escape his realm of illusions. Tellingly, his Data Rematch in the latter game has by far the lowest health bar out of all the Organization XIII Data Rematches, though it's compensated by the additional health bar that must be depleted every time you get trapped in his Pocket Dimension.
  • In 358/2 Days, his magic stat surpasses that of Xemnas but his Strength and Defense stats are the worst in the entire organization.
• Teen Genius: He's a grown up child prodigy after all.
• Throw the Book at Them: His lexicon, the Book of Retribution. It's most prominent in 358/2 Days where he will actually swing his book at enemies for combo attacks.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: His lexicons in Days are at the very least suggestive of this, with names like "Eldritch Esoterica" and "Indescribable Lore".
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Experimenting on the darkness in people's hearts? Check. Creating Heartless? Check. Helping destroy his home by accident? CHECK.
• Undying Loyalty: Completely and utterly loyal to the Organization, which is ironic considering he's also a Smug Snake and Deceptive Disciple.
• The Unfought: In the original Chain of Memories. Averted in the remake, as well as in KHII Final Mix +.
• The Unreveal: Zexion's weapon in Chain of Memories due to being The Unfought. In Kingdom Hearts II, there is a room which displays the weapons of every member of the Organization... except Zexion's, which is destroyed. It took the Updated Re-release to learn what it was (a lexicon).
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He only gets a couple of scenes in Birth by Sleep, but this is the general impression.
• Villainous Breakdown: He loses it when Riku embraces the darkness and stands against him, complete with rather uncharacteristically deranged facial expressions as he prepares to face Riku in combat.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Hard to believe he's only a few years older than the protagonists.
• Your Mind Makes It Real: Either this or Hard Light is implied to explain how his illusions can actually harm/kill you.

Axel (VIII)

The Flurry of Dancing Flames (Original Name: Lea)

See Kingdom Hearts: Axel

Roxas (XIII)

The Key of Destiny

See Kingdom Hearts: Roxas

The Thirteen Seekers of Darkness

Master Xehanort (I)

Master Xehanort

See Kingdom Hearts: Master Xehanort

Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (II)

Ansem, Seeker of Darkness

See Kingdom Hearts: Xehanort's Incarnations

Xemnas (I/III)

The Superior of the In-Between

See Kingdom Hearts: Xehanort's Incarnations

Xigbar (II/IV)

The Freeshooter (Original Name: Braig)

See Kingdom Hearts: Xigbar

Luxord (X/V)

The Gambler of Fate (Original Name: Unknown)

"I'd rather we just skip the formalities."

Voiced by: Joji Nakata (Japanese), Robin Atkin Downes (English)

Appearances: II | 358/2 Days | Dream Drop Distance | III

"If only the whispers at the top of the ladder carried to the bottom rung..."

Number X within the original Organization XIII, later becoming Number V of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness. Suave, likes card games and views life as a game, having all the time in the world to win it.

---

• Affably Evil: He's just so damn polite. Perhaps seen most explicitly in II where, when Sora successfully completes his Reaction Command games, he praises him for doing so despite coming closer to being defeated.
• Arc Villain: Of both of the Pirates of the Caribbean worlds, appearing during the second visit to Port Royal in II and the visit to The Caribbean in III.
• Author Appeal: An aversion. He's Nomura's favorite member of the Organization but has arguably the smallest role out of all of them. This is steadily changing as of III.
• Back from the Dead: He returns in III as a member of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness.
• Beneath Notice: Re:Mind shows that he's been making good use of this to pick up on secrets within the Seekers. It's even implied that he either knows who Xigbar truly is or that he suspects that Xigbar has his own agenda.
• Berserk Button: As shown in the six-on-one battle with Riku in the manga adaption for Days, Luxord doesn't like it when his cards are cut.
• Cards of Power: In addition to using his cards as weapons, Luxord can use them to execute games with Sora or sealing enemies inside.
• Character Development: Talking to him in the Gray Room over the course of 358/2 Days will have him reveal his thoughts on the various events of the game. To wit, in reaction to the Castle Oblivion debacle and Xion's misadventures, all of which he only has an outsider's perspective on, Luxord goes from being mildly confused at the machinations going on between members to going with the flow and enjoying his games, then frustrated with how little control he has over his own fate and later finally nosedives into depressed acceptance of his place in the Organization as the lackey and lowest ranking member. All of this contrasts Roxas' character development, which has the opposite conclusion of rebellion, but otherwise has the same rise and fall of confusion and frustration. Luxord sympathizes with Roxas at many points.
• Connected All Along: It's always been suspected that Luxord had deep connections to someone from the main cast, but...no one really expected him to be connected to Yozora, of all people. "An Oath to Return" strongly implies that Luxord himself hails from Scala ad Caelum but may have already been in Quadratum, as Yozora's driver looks and sounds all-too similar to him.
• Cutting the Knot: It's implied Xigbar and Saïx, aside from Xemnas, are the primary messengers for the rank-and-file members of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness, being entrusted with delegating missions and tasks on behalf of the main four incarnations of Xehanort. Xigbar ordered Luxord to hunt for the Black Box, claiming it was an order from the core Xehanort's when it was really part of his own agenda. Luxord sensed it would be unusual for Xehanort, obsessed with the Keyblade War, to be interested in such a box, so he simply asked Xemnas himself about the task. This took Xigbar completely off-guard, suggesting Luxord broke the usual rules of engagement.
• A Day in the Limelight: In the manga adaptation of Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, he plays a major role during the trip to Wonderland. After meeting with the Caterpillar, the main focus of the events is to find a way to restore Luxord to his normal size, which they eventually do.
• Death Dealer: Whenever he's not using this for offensive purposes he also makes shields with cards to protect Roxas in Days or throwing them, as well. He can also make giant playing cards to hide himself in or to transform others into cards, as well.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: After being defeated by Sora in III, Luxord congratulates him on his victory with a special card and both look forward to meet and play against each other again.
• Dispense with the Pleasantries: Invoked the moment he meets Sora at the Castle That Never Was in II.
  Luxord: I'd rather we just skip the formalities.
• Duel Boss: In II he teleports Sora's friends away so they can fight 1v1.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Demonstrates this as Sora lands the killing blow on him. Luxord and Roxas were friends, as his last words to Sora were meant to stir Roxas.
  Luxord: How could you... Roxas?
• Evil Brit: Luxord has a British accent in the English dub.
• Even Evil Has Standards: For such an Affably Evil gentleman who is usually very friendly, Luxord outright dislikes Vexen, citing him as a Sycophantic Servant to Xemnas and generally wanting nothing to do with him in his own work.
• Evil Genius: Very well-learned about subjects that do not merely relate to card games where he puts such knowledge to immediate and excellent use during his visits to Port Royal.
• Evil Laugh: Does this only once, when he blows up the Interceptor.
• Fair-Play Villain: As the Gambler of Fate, his battles are structured more like games that Sora has to win, and Luxord is fair about abiding by the rules. In II he teleports Sora's allies away to face him as a Duel Boss, which is a Timed Mission where attacking each other depletes a time gauge, and in the Data Rematch if Sora plays Luxord's games and wins, he's rewarded by draining some of Luxord's gauge to restore his own. His cards in both II and III when fought as a boss can include beneficial or harmful effects.
  • However, this is subverted in the tie-in manga, where Sora's friends have been turned into cards and Sora has to flip cards over to either free a friend or release an enemy. Luxord insists that, on his pride as a gambler, he's playing fairly but when Saïx destroys all the cards it's revealed that Sora's friends were in another deck entirely. When Luxord repeats the game against Jiminy, he does play fairly though.
  • Its also played with in both of his fights in II. Luxord begins his first battle by turning Sora into a die, and then will challenge him to his games, but since the player can't possibly accept because Sora's commands are locked, they'll likely end up punished for not accepting the challenge. In his Data Rematch, Luxord will use his Desperation Attack when his gauge gets low, and if Sora fails it Luxord drains half his gauge to restore his own, but then once Sora's transformation into a card or die wears off, Luxord uses his Desperation Attack again, and will repeat this pattern until Sora wins; essentially he gives up any pretense of strategy or fairness and resorts to trying to cheese his way to victory by spamming his best move.
• Forced Transformation: He starts of his Boss Battle in II by temporarily turning Sora into a large die. If the player fails any of Luxord's Reaction Commands, he'll turn Sora into a die again or possibly a giant playing card. Technically, he also does this to himself when hiding in one of his cards.
• Friendly Enemy: Develops into this with Sora over the course of III as he shows himself to be a true Fair-Play Villain with a decent code and willing to help out of he does lose a fight, to the point of their last exchange before he disappears to turn into his completed form.
  Sora: Play ya again someday, when we're just guys.
  Luxord: I should like that very much, Sora.
• The Gambler: Likes to play games that involve gambling, uses lots of gambling metaphors, and his weapon is a deck of magic playing cards. It also factors into his personality, especially come II, and if one takes into account his character in 358/2 Days, always trying to find some fun in the situation. All of the Final Mix-exclusive Organization meeting scenes have him express a sense of excitement of the "game" that is unfolding, but is often shut down by Saïx or Xaldin, particularly when he expresses respect for Axel's "wager".
• Gentleman and a Scholar: While he's more known for being a gambler than a scholar, he's still very much characterized as refined and intelligent while retaining the social know-how and rhetorical skills to properly parley with a roguish pirate like Jack Sparrow. In Re:Mind, he easily sees through Xigbar's lies by simply using deductive reasoning.
• Graceful Loser: Zigzagged. In Kingdom Hearts II, his reaction to being struck down by Sora is one of disbelief and abject rage — his initial last words are a betrayed "how could you...Roxas?!" Come III, where he's developed enough of an identity of his own and an understanding of Sora beyond his Nobody, Luxord has come around to the idea of his friendship and congratulates Sora on his win by giving Sora a card and releasing Mickey. He even happily says he would very much like to play against Sora again one day.
  Luxord: You play the game quite well...
• Heel–Face Turn: It's pretty obvious near his conclusion in III, with Sora promising to play another game with him after his recompletion. His handing a special wild card to Sora and his kindness to him also helps.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: His specialty in 358/2 Days with most of his combos having exceptional range, allowing him to easily rack up damage against multiple enemies though perhaps it somewhat leaves him less than exceptional in one-on-one fights.
• Hidden Depths: Thanks to additional characterization Luxord received in 358/2 Days and II Final Mix, Luxord gets portrayed as someone who finds value in being able to take fate into their own hands.
  • In an extra scene included in II Final Mix, while the surviving members of the Organization are reflecting on Axel's defection and death, Luxord admits he admires him for dying as himself and says he was ultimately the winner.
  • Similarly, Luxord is perhaps the least antagonist loyal member of the Organization XIII towards both Roxas and Sora. This can be interpreted as him not harboring the resentment towards either of them like the other members do, as he actually respects them, the former by ultimately getting what he wanted in breaking rank from the Organization and the latter by playing his games quite well.
  • Re:Mind reveals that he's been taking full advantage of being Beneath Notice to the point that he, rightfully, concludes that Xigbar has his own agenda. It's even heavily implied that Luxord knows far more about what's going on then he initially let on.
• It May Help You on Your Quest: After his defeat in III, Luxord gives Sora a special wild card as a parting gift. He doesn't tell him specifically what it does, but he does say it may be of help to him in the future.
• Jack of All Stats: His stats in 358/2 Days are all relatively balanced with a slight bias towards Magic and slightly lower Strength and HP than the other members with balanced stats. He mostly stands out with his wide-ranged, sweeping combos.
• Joke Weapon: In 358/2 Days, he can wield video game discs from the Casual Gear and four-leaf clovers from the Mystery Gear.
• King Mook: To the Gambler Nobodies.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Implied. In III, Xemnas reveals that he and the others IX-XII are Keybladers from ancient times, which surprises them, implying that they don't remember their pasts. It certainly explains why they became part of the Organization in the first place when they appeared to be the odd ones out.
  • In the new Re:Mind DLC, it's implied that Luxord may have regained his memories and possibly realizes who Xigbar really is.
• Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: No matter the contest, be it a fight or even something as simple as a race, he will play fairly, uphold his end of the bargain if beaten, and eagerly look forward to the next contest. Occasionally, he'll play with the Exact Words of the rules (such as calling on Heartless ships to ambush you in the Port Royal race in III), but he doesn't go out of his way. He puts it thusly:
  Luxord: And how could I love games and contests without honoring the rules? Because only by winning fairly does victory have any savor at all.
• Limit Break: Jackpot. By pressing the attack button, he will summon a large card that alternates between a thorny cross and a starburst. Pressing the attack button will stop the card on the current symbol with the cross generating a small weak explosion while the sunburst has him blast his enemies with three much stronger explosions in a row. The minigame can be paused by pressing the jump button, allowing him to dodge and/or reposition himself. For his Final Limit, a second card gets added with the two cards alternating between, two thorny crosses, a sunburst and an ornate heart, and lastly two ornate hearts. While the first two combinations have the same effect as the thorny cross and the sunburst from before, the two ornate hearts will have him blast his enemies with five powerful explosions in a row with the last explosion being larger and especially damaging.
• Meaningful Name: In theory with him, there are two names that could be possible:
  • Ludor could tie to a possible reincarnation of the Player, as ludo in Latin means to play, very much so.
  • Lodur or Ve as he was known in one part of Norse mythology was an early fire god and of wisdom and fertility, as he gave the first humans intelligence and wit, with his own name also meaning fire or the flaming in Old Norse, indicating a parallel with Ignis. Lodur also shares the title "Fire Bringer" with Loki, which may be his later incarnation to be due to being fair of face and a trickster. Considering the Dark Road characters with Norse names of their own, this could be significant as it could tie him in with them or Skuld in the future.^note Since the mythological Bragi and Loki are enemies, the black goat and white goat quotes that Luxord himself says to Xigbar within Re:Mind before the latter's big reveal is more telling, suggesting possible bad blood between the two in future installments.
  • The true pronunciation of Luxord's name makes it sound like "luke's sword" or "lux sword", both of which end up meaning "light sword"- which is more or less what most Keyblades are; swords of the light domain. While this alludes to his friendship with Roxas and eventually Sora as well, it also alludes to the fact that Luxord's Somebody was once capable of using the Keyblade.
• Mind over Manners: He removes Sora's allies from the field to give both of them a fair fight, which in his case is justified. It's also Honor Before Reason due to his past with Roxas.
• Mind over Matter: Luxord controls his cards telekinetically, making them fly about on a whim. Overlaps with Paper Master.
• Motor Mouth: He doesn't talk a lot compared to the other members (being actually rather to the point), but when he does, he speaks the fastest of any of his comrades.
  Luxord: The darkness of men's hearts, drawn to these cursed medallions, and this Heartless- a veritable maelstrom of avarice. I wonder; are they worthy to serve Organisation XIII?
• My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Luxord takes four coins from the cursed chest in Port Royal, yet doesn't suffer the curse unlike the Heartless created from those that were cursed. Sora and the gang conclude he and they are immune due to not being native to that world.
• Mysterious Past: More so than just about every other member of the Organization. Thanks to the revelations made in Union χ, just about every member's past — or at least identity — has been revealed in some form. Luxord and Demyx are the only exceptions, though it's clear they have SOME deep connections to the first Keyblade War. However, whereas everyone just writes Demyx off, Luxord has an air of mystery that attracts attention. Even Luxu doesn't know who he is or what game he's playing. Should the good ending of the Superboss fight be achieved by beating Yozora, the driver of the car Yozora is in sounds suspiciously like Luxord, hinting at his true origins.
• Nice Guy: Very much so. In Days he's the only Organization member outside of Axel and Xion that's consistently nice towards Roxas, is open to his comments, never hostile towards him and generously rewards him for doing well on his minigames.
  • Further reinforced in III. While he plays his role as an antagonist straight, he always keeps it professional and never took any personal action against Sora. After his defeat, he and Sora genuinely part on amicable terms and look forward to seeing each other again as friends. As he and Roxas were already friends at one point, it stands to reason Sora rubbed off on him quite a bit.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In the manga, he turns Sora's friends into cards and promises to restore them if the latter can figure out which facedown cards they're in. Saïx destroys all the cards out of impatience and seemingly kills Sora's friends, only for Jiminy to discover that Luxord cheated by hiding his friends in a deck and that all of the destroyed facedown cards were enemy cards.
• Noble Demon: One of the more honorable members of Organization XIII, next to Lexaeus. It even shows in his speech.
• No Ontological Inertia: When Luxord is defeated, the cards he uses to trap his enemies inside them will disintegrate, freeing them.
• Odd Friendship: While nowhere near as close as Axel and Xion, it's evident that Luxord considered Roxas a friend if their interactions in 358/2 Days are anything to go by — as his last words in II. To contrast, Luxord is a refined, posh older gentleman who tries to enjoy life to the fullest while Roxas is young, brash and doesn't really get what it means to have fun, at least until Axel teaches him little by little. When Roxas' original form Sora cuts him down, he seems legitimately upset by what's become of his friend and calls out to Roxas one last time.
• Perpetual Smiler: In the manga. Even in the games, he's fairly cheerful and pleasant for a villain.
• Personality Powers: He's a gambler and a game master, so it's fitting that he uses them to set time limits in the gameplay portions that he and Sora are involved in, which fits his mindset and his intentions.
• Pet the Dog: In the manga, Luxord and Roxas destroy the Queen of Heart's newly constructed castle as it's built out of the shadow globs they were tasked with destroying. When he sees how upset the Queen is, he wipes away her tears and builds a new castle out of giant cards for her.
• Phantom-Zone Picture: Luxord can trap enemies inside cards and does this to Sora's allies both times he is fought as a boss.
• Portal Picture: He enter cards like a portal and reappear in another place as a form of teleportation in his bossfight in III.
• Power of the Void: Xemnas supercharges him with this before he retreats from Sora and Mickey, giving his already rampant Reality Warper powers a huge upgrade, turning all his cards into wild cards.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Luxord is generally more interested in his games than to ever really wreak havoc, with Days and III voicing his displeasure at being in the bottom rung and his own frustrations towards being left out of the loop. He also clearly doesn't share anyone else's needs to please Xemnas, as well, fully invoking this.
• Pungeon Master: Luxord's dialogue is heavy with gambling and game related puns in Days.
• Quintessential British Gentleman: Downplayed. He doesn't have too many specifically stereotypical British characteristics and wasn't really designed with that sort of character archetype in mind but he definitely has the accent, the intelligence, and the sophisticated manner of speaking down as well as a very much refined, polite yet friendly demeanor.
• Reality Warper: He primarily uses this within his cards, as his powers were already rampant with it due to him coupling it with his Time element. His cards tend to warp everything around him ranging from trapping enemies inside his cards to teleporting them out or making them explode on contact. Xemnas later gives him a Power-Up to make ALL his cards turn the tide in any situation.
• Rules Lawyer: He quickly invokes parlay on the second visit to Port Royal so Jack and Sora, Donald, and Goofy don't just chuck him overboard. He invokes it for a second time in III.
• Satellite Character: His main purpose was to fill out the original Organization XIII's ranks by being its Number X. Out of all the members that appear in II, he has the least amount of screentime, and first reveals himself during the second half of the game. He randomly reappears in the final world, with his boss battle sandwiched between the more plot-relevant Xigbar and Saïx. He did get a bit more screentime in the Final Mix version and 358/2 Days, though.
  • It's finally subverted with III, where his character receives a lot more exposure, development and even the revelation that he was once a Keyblade wielder.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: He describes the Grim Reaper Heartless he summons within Port Royal in Kingdom Hearts II as a "veritable maelstrom of avarice", whereas in 358/2 Days he combines this with gambling-related puns.
• Shout-Out: One of his Joke Weapons in 358/2 Days is a pair of game discs are called "Finest Fantasy 13" that bear the description "This looks awfully familiar..." This is a reference to Final Fantasy XIII, which came out a few months after 358/2 Days, though recent insights suggest that said weapon is actually a reference to Final Fantasy Versus XIII, instead.
• Smart People Speak the Queen's English: Intelligent and cunning with a notable English Received Pronunciation accent in the English localization.
• Spotting the Thread: In Re:Mind, he has realized that Xigbar has his own agenda trying to find the Black Box and is strongly implied to know that he's Luxu, especially after catching him off-guard with a pretty weak lie.
• Squishy Wizard: Downplayed but he's generally not much of a physical fighter, mostly attacking by manipulating cards from a safe distance, blasting Sora with magic to drain his health or inflict a Forced Transformation, or most often playing games with negative consequences should Sora fail to beat them.
  • Suitably, his playable incarnation in 358/2 Days combines a slightly above-average Magic stat with slightly below-average Strength and HP making him a statistically downplayed case of this.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: He sports them upon his return in III, indicating his vessel status and his return as a Nobody.
• Time-Limit Boss: Played with. During his Boss Battle he and Sora both have Time Bar that slowly deplete on their own over time. The bar can be depleted faster by dealing damage, and Sora can get some of his Time Bar back by successfully doing one of Luxord's minigames.
• Time Master: Downplayed. Even though his element is time, he barely uses it outside of making his boss fight "timed". His data fight in Re:Mind can speed up his card projectiles, but that's the extent of it.
• Token Good Teammate: As much as a member of Organization XIII and the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness can be "good", he's by far the kindest member of both alliances. Not only does he have no animosity towards Sora, the two of them strike up an odd sort of respect for one another. During his demise in III (and heavily implied to return to his original body) he happily states that he looks forward to meeting Sora again as friends. Sora responds in agreement.
  • He's also extremely kind to both Roxas and Xion and treats them with a great deal of respect, especially considering their statuses as the Chew Toy within the Organization.
• Worthy Opponent: In II Luxord feels this way about Axel, affectionately calling him a "grifter to the end." When Xigbar and Saïx dismiss Axel's Heroic Sacrifice as pointless and stupid, he asserts that Axel got what he was after and went out a winner.
  • He also views Sora as such in III given his ability to best him in his games. After his defeat, Luxord gifts Sora a special wild card and happily accepts Sora's request to play again once he has returned to his original form.

Larxene (XII/VI)

The Savage Nymph (Original Name: Elrena)

"I'M a bad guy so you'll have to go through me!"

^{Click here to see Elrena}

Voiced by: Rieko Katayama (COM), Yuko Miyamura (Japanese), Shanelle Gray (English)

Appearances: Chain of Memories | II: Final Mix | 358/2 Days | Dream Drop Distance | III

"More pain for you means more fun for me!"

Number XII of the original Organization XIII and Number VI of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness. A close ally of Marluxia, she is gleefully sadistic and enjoys tormenting others for the fun of it.

In her past life as Elrena, she was one of the Dandelions that eventually got to know Lauriam.

---

• Alpha Bitch: It's no secret that she's meant to be like this, especially in her Organization incarnation. It's her default mode, as she gives zero licks about everyone.
  • Larxene is mean to both ally and enemy alike and is an absolute sadist. Her sarcastic comments as well as her own actions often harass her own allies, particularly the resident dork Demyx, whom she also has doing favors for her against his liking. However, her behavior as a Nobody is probably due to her lack of emotions combined with a painful past life from back when she did have them.
• An Ice Person: REALLY has a lot of skill with ice, though it's usually "not her style" in III as she manages to create a multiple-level labyrinth, complete with elevators and multiple rooms on each level, in seconds while in Arendelle.
• Arch-Enemy: Xemnas would be this by default to her other than Demyx, though she has plenty of hate to spare.
• Ax-Crazy: Just look at her eyes whenever she has those knives out! More than almost anybody else in the series, she gets her kicks out of getting to hurt others.
• Babysitter from Hell: To Roxas in Days, though she's only verbally abusive and not physically, which is pretty surprising considering how physically sadistic she actually is in Chain of Memories.
• Back from the Dead: She's returned in III as a member of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness.
• Badass Bookworm: In the Chain of Memories manga, she is seen reading a book by the Marquis de Sade.
• Bad Mood as an Excuse: In Chain of Memories to Naminé when she begs her to leave off attacking Sora and company.
  Larxene: I should tell you that I'm in an EXTREMELY foul mood. Thanks to you, all our plans are ruined!
• The Baroness: In Castle Oblivion, but is otherwise Marluxia's dragon.
• Berserk Button: In the manga version of Chain of Memories, she only began to harass the Riku Replica and forced Naminé to rewrite his heart and memory after the replica called her an "old hag".
  • Demyx is this to her as well in every part of the series they're in together, by virtue of simply existing (Demyx being useless and a slacker only makes it worse).
• Blade Spam: Several of her attacks are quick enough qualify as this though there a number of stand-out examples often with Teleport Spam mixed in.
• The Bully: No better way to describe her. Most of, if not all of her quotes have her insulting, bellittling, and making fun of someone in one way or another. She's also not above physical abuse either as shown when she smacked Naminé across the room. One of the best example of her being this trope is on III when she berates Demyx for being useless and laughs at him upon learning he lost his spot to a replica.
  Larxene: What?! You're not smart! Or capable, or likeable, or attractive. A cereal bowl would make a better vessel.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Playfully and unashamedly refers to herself as one of the bad guys during her first meeting with Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
• Child Hater: She definitely has shades of this, if her journal entry is anything to go by. To her credit, she does come to somewhat respect Roxas before she leaves for Castle Oblivion.
  • In the manga, she outright says, "I hate kids" three times.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Played with in III. She suggests to her old partner Marluxia that they betray the Seekers, but they don't go through with it and end up fighting to the death on Xehanort's side. Of all the Seekers she's the most outright treasonous member, who isn't thrilled with the idea of Xehanort winning and only really along for the ride. Her true loyalty is to Marluxia only.
• Climax Boss: The second battle with her is also the second Climax Boss fight of Sora's story, occurring right after the biggest revelations in the plot.
• Combat Stilettos: The only member of the group who has them prior to Xion joining.
• Combination Attack: In the fight against them in III, both Marluxia and Larxene are capable of using their Desperation Attack moves simultaneously, after Luxord's already been dealt with.
• Connected All Along: Seems Lauriam and Elrena were connected much more deeper than first thought, huh?
• The Corrupter: While the full extent of her sadism has been revealed, the fact she can also partake in this is a huge surprise, as seen in III.
• Cute and Psycho: Fond of smiling, giggling... and hurting people very badly.
• Dark Action Girl: Villainous and a lightning quick combatant.
• Dark and Troubled Past: As of this writing, her life as Elrena is currently unknown, though in one of the novel adaptations [specifically, Axel — Seven Days, Chapter 5], when Marluxia reinstated the reason why they are on missions (to get their hearts back) after she questions that what they're doing is unclear, she casts her eyes down and responded that she doesn't want a heart because it's painful and she's comfortable right now, implying this with a touch of an as-yet case of Broken Bird.
• Dehumanizing Insult: Calls Sora a worm in her taunts in III.
• Defiant to the End: She's angry upon being defeated for the final time in III, which is pretty much in line with her personality altogether.
• Doppelgänger Attack: In her Absent Silhouette fight Larxene is able to create up to four copies of herself who can freely rush and attack anywhere. One of her copies can even fight entirely independently of Larxene. One of the Reaction Commands involves throwing Larxene and her copy against each other to force them to re-fuse and stun Larxene.
• The Drag-Along: In III, while she doesn't like Xehanort or his plan she nonetheless participates loyally implicitly because she wanted to stick with Marluxia.
• The Dragon: To Marluxia during Chain of Memories.
• Dual Boss: After Luxord is defeated in III, she and Marluxia are fought as a pair.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Golden yellow, the color of her lightning powers.
• Evil Laugh: Just. Listen.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Like Marluxia, she's utterly perplexed and even slightly annoyed that Sora consciously chooses to protect Naminé even after finding out that his memories of her and the friendship they shared were all lies. She even flat-out calls him a delusional idiot.
• The Extremist Was Right: As described in Marluxia's entry: she and Marluxia didn't think Xemnas had their best interests in mind. They were absolutely correct.
• Faux Affably Evil: She can put on as much charm and flirting as she wants, but it doesn't hide her cruel true nature. Given that her charm and flirting usually accompanies a sadistic act, she doesn't even seem to be trying to hide it.
• Flash Step: Very present, what with her quick attacks and lightning speed.
• Fragile Speedster: Larxene is pretty vulnerable provided you can catch up to her.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: To an extent. Despite Marluxia and Larxene apparently planning to overthrow the Organization together with Larxene even referring to the two of them as "partners in crime" in III, they have shockingly little interactions with one another in Chain of Memories where they make their debut and are killed off. Averted in the manga since they both depart from the castle at some point to celebrate their success.
  • Negated as of III where they're revived and actually hold a full conversation with one another regarding the roles they play in the Organization. They later team up with Xemnas and Luxord to take on Mickey and Sora.
• Giggling Villain: In the Japanese version, her laughing is adorable, yet no less creepy.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: A nice subversion of the standard large eyes equal good and innocent, as her eyes are about as large as Sora and Kairi's.
• Hair Antennae: Two long bangs swept back over her head.
• Hartman Hips: While more subtle than most examples of the trope, the fit of her coat definitely emphasizes her hips more than any of the male Organization members (besides maybe invokedAxel).
• Hates Everyone Equally: The Character Files confirms it, mentioning subtly that she hated everyone from both the original Organization and the Seekers as well as the heroes.
• Hate Sink: The most unpleasant, ill-tempered, and detestable member present in Castle Oblivion and she might even surpass Saïx in this regard if she had more screentime interacting with other members of the cast. She can hardly maintain a facade of civility before devolving into some form of cruel, sadistic abuse be it verbal or physical even against her own allies. In-universe, she gets on the nerves of everyone she interacts with though Marluxia may be a possible exception. That the targets of her ire are some of the more innocent and/or sympathetic characters like invokedNaminé or Roxas further cements this.
• Hidden Depths: Her death scene in Chain of Memories might reflect on this, while it's unknown if Larxene knew that her own destruction could lead to the restoration of her original persona, she reacts with utter fear upon realizing she is fading way, with her last words being: "No, this isn't...the way I...I won't...allow."
  • She also comes off as slightly less evil in 358/2 Days, having a few Pet the Dog moments with Roxas and being given a more sympathetic motive for her treachery.
  • Now her original self appears in Kingdom Hearts χ [chi], revealed to be a Keyblade wielder who, while not the most social of people, still sincerely cared about Lauriam and his sister Strelitzia. In III, this is referenced as she fades, as she states she was only ever along for the ride in the Seekers out of personal loyalty to Marluxia.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: While Larxene represents the Ninja class, her loud and abrasive personality and enjoyment of card-carrying villainy make sure she's never stealthy. Her Limitcut fight demonstrates a weaponized variation of the trope, as she does engage in misdirection worthy of a ninja, but does so by swamping the player's senses with an abundance of clones and lightning bolts that aren't actually aimed Sora's way, obscuring her real attack patterns with information overload.
• I Shall Taunt You: Her main hobby, and one she does well: every time she's shown at it, she manages to get a rise out of her target.
• Insult to Rocks: She tries to get a rise out of Demyx in III in the Keyblade Graveyard meeting with this, but he surprisingly snarks at her afterwards with an Un Evil Laugh.
• It's All About Me: Coupled with her main bitchiness. Part of it stems from her time as Elrena, after all.
• Jerkass: Truly vicious in both words and bite, since her attitude towards her enemies and friends alike rubs everyone the wrong way.
• Joke Item: Casual Gear turns her knives into bright purple dragonflies. Mystery Gear, lightbulbs.
• Kick the Dog: Her whole treatment of Sora in CoM and Re:CoM is this, being a Hate Sink towards him to the point of near Mind Rape.
  • After refraining from violence towards Naminé for most of the game, she smacks the poor kid aside when the plan falls apart and Naminé is between her and Sora.
• King Mook: To the Ninja Nobodies.
• Large Ham: Exceptionally emotional and expressive for someone that isn't supposed to be able to and outright doesn't want to feel emotions.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: In III, Xemnas reveals that she and the others are Keybladers from the ancient times, which surprises her. The cutscene after she's defeated in the Keyblade Graveyard further suggests that Larxene doesn't remember her past as Elrena.
• Laughably Evil: Her sass can be quite humorous when she's around her fellow Organization members, especially Vexen. This is especially true for 358/2 Days, in which her scenes are all played for laughs. This is probably because while she still acts like a jerk she curbs her sadism around her cohorts since they don't have hearts and she doesn't believe she can really hurt them, whereas around the likes of Sora she can have much more...fun.
• Limit Break: Voltic Rush. Mashing the attack button will have Larxene wildly slash at rapid-speed at her enemies while charged with electricity. Her Final Limit has her rush forward while completely engulfed in electricity.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Larxene's wild, disrespectful and boyish-looking. Compare with her partner in crime, the graceful Marluxia.
• Meaningful Name: 'la reine' is French for the queen and Sora even called her a queen once in the CoM manga. Considering Marluxia's plans and her own had it came to fruition, it would've been played straight.
  • Her own name (which brings Elena from Final Fantasy VII to mind) is a take on 'el rey' and 'la reina', respectively Spanish for 'the king' and 'the queen'.
• Never a Self-Made Woman: Marluxia is the one who brought her into his conspiracy and she just follows his plan. Though if the novel chapter is anything to go by, she's the first one that questions the Organization's objective when speaking to him. With the surprising lack of interaction for two villains who are working together, it's hard to distinguish what their partnership was actually like.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: You really should have hurried up and killed Sora instead of providing all that groundbreaking exposition, Larxene...
• Ninja: Wears all-black and utilizes deception, high-speed, skillful acrobatics and kunai augmented with her mastery over Thunder magic. She even leads Nobodies called Ninjas. That said, neither Larxene nor her minions make any attempt at being stealthy.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Occurs a lot in Re:CoM with both Axel and Naminé.
• Perky Female Minion: Played with. One one hand she's the playful and childish minion to Marluxia who is the calm and collected Lord of Castle Oblivion. On the other hand she's also a stand-offish, hate-filled sadist while Marluxia is soft-spoken and far more polite to others, even enemies.
• Pet the Dog: In all fairness, she did help Roxas learn magic and also gave him a potion, despite coming along with plenty of verbal abuse. Her last interaction with Roxas in Days is her saying that he's "almost half-competent now" and that maybe he'd make a good addition to her and Marluxia's rebellion plan. And that, friends, is just about the nicest Larxene has ever been.
  • In III she acts like more of a Tsundere toward Sora as she regains her heart while fading away, with her final teasing of him ("My secret!") being more good-natured than mean-spirited. She also reveals that she only ever served Xehanort because she was loyal to Marluxia, due to caring about him from back when they were both humans.
• Psycho Electro: The only member of the Organization with deadly lightning powers, plus she's also the one with the most vicious personality out of all of them.
• Psychopathic Womanchild: She has a noticeably — and often frighteningly — immature side to her, although this is much more pronounced in the Japanese version.
• Rage Breaking Point: While tending to have childish, temperamental fits generally, she seemed relatively chill until everything fell apart.
• Redemption Rejection: Played with. Upon him mentioning she'll be recompleted as a human, she scathingly called Sora's words a "garbage opinion" and still bemoans that she lost to him and his group, calling them a bunch of losers. But, as she begins to regain some feelings in the process of fading, she does admit that she never wanted to be a vessel for Xehanort and was only "along for the ride". When Sora asks with whom, Larxene pauses and then says "my secret" in a more genuinely playful way as she fades away, as opposed to the hurtful way she operated under beforehand.
• Ride the Lightning: Very present in her attacks in both her Absent Silhouette form in II and in her battle in III, where she attacks with lunges that also makes her appear as a lightning bolt.
• Sadist: A surprisingly effective one at it, too. She's even able to scare Demyx, though to be fair both of them don't get along either way.
• Selective Magnetism: In III, she shows enough control over her power to use it to charge and magnetize substances so she can manipulate them telekinetically. She can even use it to move the ice and snow Elsa creates.
• She-Fu: THE prime example of the series, even over Aqua. It's her designated battle style and her game play is chock full of it. Flips, cartwheels, aerial cartwheels, spins, somersaults, mid-air drills, rolls, etc. All in top speed.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only girl in the Organization before Xion came along.
• Squishy Wizard: Subverted. While her low Defense and Strength stats combined with her high Magic stat in 358/2 Days would place her into this category in most circumstances, her oft-displayed skill in fast-paced, close-quarters combat arguably make her more of a Magic Knight if anything.
• The Starscream: Plotted to overthrow Xemnas with Marluxia during their time in Castle Oblivion.
• Statuesque Stunner: There's not much focus on it since many of her allies she interacts with are taller than her but Re:Mind's Data Greeting mode shows that she stands slightly taller than the fairly tall Riku and Young Xehanort though her Combat Stilettos probably help too.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: She sports them upon her return in III, indicating her vessel status and her return as a Nobody once more.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She utterly despises Xemnas if her reaction in the Keyblade Graveyard is any indication and she's mostly passive-aggressive towards Xehanort by default, but works with the Seekers because she only serves Marluxia.
  Larxene: UGH. Xemnas.
• Terms of Endangerment: She calls the Riku Replica "kiddo" and Naminé "little one".
• This Cannot Be!: How she dies.
• Time Stands Still: She traps Sora, Donald and Goofy inside a dome of darkness with her and briefly stops time for the rest of Arendelle in order to have a conversation with them.
• Transhuman Treachery: Unlike most of the organization, Larxene is definitely not a Beta Test Baddie; she truly does NOT want her heart back.
• Tsundere: In a non-romantic, budding... bond sort of way. Her behavior towards Roxas began leaning this way before she got sent to Castle Oblivion. There's a scene where she throws a verbal jab while giving him a healing potion. Then considered the idea of him joining her and Marluxia in their betrayal plan. The only other one who had a similar honor was Axel. She's certainly a lot more partial to Roxas than she ever was to Sora.
  • This is given new significance when we learn that as Elrena she was a Dandelion alongside Ventus.
  • This aspect of her personality seems played up much more in III. As she's fading away and regaining the feeling in her heart, she seems to struggle with maintaining her personal contempt for Sora, twice acting as if she refuses to answer his questions before her resolve crumbles and she does so.
• Troll: In a particularly mocking way. She gets off on people's pain, misery and anger in response to her words and actions. Unless the reaction is overdone to the point of being "predictable", that is, then she just gets bored.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: In Union χ, she is a young and shy-seeming schoolgirl named Elrena, who nevertheless still has a strong, sassy side to her.
• Villainous Breakdown: Once she realized her and Marluxia's plan crumble in CoM thanks to Axel, she exposes everything to Sora, and goes ahead to eliminate him with "no other choice" left, leaving her vulnerable to the Villain Ball, and in turn, meeting her demise.
• Villain Has a Point: In III, it's... not unfair of her to say that ultimately, it's down to Elsa to pick light or darkness and Sora should let her have that freedom, since They're Called "Personal Issues" for a Reason.
• Villains Out Shopping: In the game, after Vexen is murdered, she and Marluxia leave Naminé in Axel's care and both go off somewhere at the same time. The manga adds where they went was getting wasted celebrating.
• Villain Teleportation: Her speedster-style moveset includes a lot of quick teleports and Flash Steps.
• When She Smiles: Only happens the moment she fades away in III, when she tells Sora "my secret!" in a playful way. The way it looks is positively beautiful.
• Witch with a Capital "B": Humorously lampshaded by Demyx in Days. It gets much worse when she leaves for Castle Oblivion.
  Demyx: Man, why's Larxene gotta be such a witch all the time?
• Willfully Weak: Interestingly, possibly subverted in her first encounter with Sora. Despite being instructed to only test him in a mock fight, it's implied Larxene was seriously trying to kill him and almost lost. When Axel teases her about this, she's quick to get defensive over it.
• Wolverine Claws: Unless she is throwing them, she wields her kunai in this manner. It seems to reference Final Fantasy's Claw weapons, which are usually classified as knives.

Marluxia (XI/VII)

The Graceful Assassin (Original Name: Lauriam)

"I've been entrusted this castle and Naminé by our leader. Defying me will be seen as treason against the Organization."

^{Click here to see Lauriam}

Voiced by: Tatsuya Kando (COM), Shūichi Ikeda (Japanese), Keith Ferguson (English)

Appearances: Chain of Memories | II: Final Mix | 358/2 Days | Dream Drop Distance | III

"As lightless oblivion devours you, drown in the ever-blooming darkness!"

Number XI of the original Organization XIII, originally recruited by both Xigbar and Xaldin. He was given charge of Castle Oblivion and attempted to engineer a coup against Xemnas with the help of Larxene, but was brought back by Master Xehanort as Number VII of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness.

In his past life as Lauriam, he was one of the five Keyblade wielders chosen by Foreteller Ava to lead the Dandelions.

---

• Achilles' Heel: It doesn't deal extra damage to his health bar but during his Data Rematch in Limit Cut, you can instantly end any armor phase of his by blasting him with Fire magic.
• Actually A Doom Bot: His initial fight with Sora is actually him using an illusionary projection behind a door.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: His original sprites in Chain of Memories feature brown hair with a rose undertone. Later, polygon-based games make it a true pink, and his Cherry Blossoms also turn into the thematically similar rose.
• Adaptational Badass: In the original Chain of Memories, he only has one extra form which was more of a Get Back Here boss than a challenge. Re:Chain of Memories adds a follow-up form with instant death spells and the ability to attack Sora's deck directly in order to leave him momentarily powerless.
• Adaptational Wimp: Marluxia does not assume forms in the manga and spends his confrontation with Sora on the defense trying to blackmail him into servitude by taking his friends hostage. When this fails, he suffers a massive Villainous Breakdown and is easily killed by Sora in one stroke.
• Affably Evil: Marluxia is polite and soft-spoken, and while he does awful stuff like taking Naminé hostage, it was more to instigate conflict between Sora and Axel. Out of all of Roxas' tutorial mentors in 358/2 Days, he's arguably the most respectful of Roxas.
• Agent Peacock: He has fluffy pink hair (although it was closer to brown in the original Game Boy Advance sprites). His elemental attribute is flowers, usually represented by cherry blossoms or roses. His signature weapon is bright pink. And he's absolutely a force to be reckoned with, whose coup nearly succeeded. Union χ reveals that his original self was a Keyblade wielder from the time of the Keyblade War and a fabulous dresser.
• Arc Number: His third form's sleights in Re: Chain of Memories tend to use three of the same number. A couple of them are significant, like four, six, and seven (see below for details.)
• Arc Villain: One of only three main villains in the series who is not one of Xehanort's incarnations (the others being Data-Sora’s Heartless from coded and Saïx from 385/2 Days), in his case he's the main villain of Chain of Memories. He is also the only final boss not to be an incarnation of Xehanort in the Dark Seeker Saga.
• Attack Drone: In most of his fights across the series, he is fond of summoning flower-bud like constructs that circle Sora and spit beams at him.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Played With. He's been put in charge of Castle Oblivion, but he doesn't hold any true authority within the Organization. That said... the man is a straight-up badass. The Ultimania places him as the third-strongest member of the Organization, after Xemnas and Roxas.
• Ax-Crazy: His Absolute Silhouette in its original portrayal. In contrast to Marluxia's usual stoicism and grace even in battle, the silhouette is constantly shrieking and Laughing Mad in between using more savage and erratic attacks ill befitting of the real deal.
• Back from the Dead: He's back in III as a member of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: With Roxas◊, in 358/2 Days.
• Beam Spam: His Omni Laser sleight in his final form in Chain of Memories has the rotating ring around the arena continuously stream several lasers on Sora.
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Ansem Seeker of Darkness for Chain of Memories, with Marluxia being the main villain in Sora’s story, and Ansem being the antagonist of Riku’s story.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days reveals that Xemnas, Xigbar and Saïx were very aware of his treachery and sent him to Castle Oblivion with Axel in tow to uncover his conspiracy.
• Blow You Away: Lots of wind based attacks to go with his Petal Power, like Gale of Severance and Whirlwind to the Void.
• The Bus Came Back: After being gone from the series since his introduction in Chain of Memories and a small appearance in 358/2 Days, Marluxia returns in III.
• Casting a Shadow: Most of his attacks are Darkness elemental and can be reduced with the appropriate accessories, likewise in addition to the Petal Power that make up his attacks all of the energy projections in his attacks are appropriately darkness in flavor.
• The Caretaker: He's an emotionally abusive one for Naminé. Poor thing.
• The Chessmaster: Can play it far better than Zexion but isn't wicked fast at it as Xemnas.
• Cherry Blossoms: He is often accompanied by cherry blossoms due to their association with death in Japan, going along with his Grim Reaper motif.
• Combat Tentacles: During his Data Rematch in Limit Cut, he can form pools of liquid darkness that sprout blackened tendrils.
• Combination Attack: In the fight against them in III, both Marluxia and Larxene are capable of using their Desperation Attack moves simultaneously, after Luxord's already been dealt with.
• Connected All Along:
  • Suffice it to say, nobody expected his original self to turn up in the Keyblade War, but whether by coincidence or by consequence he is more rooted to Ven's story and by extension Roxas as well.
  • There were no hints whatsoever that Marluxia and Larxene's original selves were familiar with each other before their Nobodies teamed up to take over Organization XIII, mostly due to their unusual lack of interaction in Chain of Memories.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has his moments in III.
  Marluxia: You always were such a sound sleeper.^note Stated after he puts Sora to sleep with his powers.
• Death Is Dramatic: In the Playstation 2 remake of the game.
• Death In All Directions: Literally being death, this power is hardly a surprise.
• Death from Above: His Drop Shot sleight.
• Death or Glory Attack: His Data rematch in III has him execute one final move when he's reduced to his last hit point, giving Sora a 20-second Doom timer and making himself invincible for 18 of those seconds. Either Sora lands a single hit within the 2-second window and wins, or misses his shot and dies.
• Death's Hourglass: His signature Doom spell appears in every incarnation. In Re:Chain of Memories, Marluxia will cast a sleight that starts a countdown, and if Sora doesn't break his cards in time it will instantly kill him. In Kingdom Hearts II he starts by instantly casting Doom on Sora, creating a counter equal to his level that sets a hard limit on how many hits Sora can take before dying regardless of how much he heals. In Kingdom Hearts III Re:Mind, he periodically creates a one-minute countdown timer that can only be dispelled by breaking through Marluxia's armor. At his last hit point, he does another version where the timer only lasts twenty seconds, but Marluxia is completely invincible for the first eighteen, giving Sora a tiny window to finish him off.
• Deceptive Disciple: Despite his good looks, they don't hide his more uglier motives, as Xemnas wasn't likely deceived by that act as he would've hoped.
  • In 3D, it's mentioned by Xemnas himself that most of the members they had chosen to be Xehanort incarnations proved to be totally untrustworthy, implicitly saying he knew that both Marluxia and Larxene were planning to betray him and decided to send them away to Castle Oblivion to separate them from the Organization because he (and by some extension Xehanort) was well aware of their duplicity. However, Marluxia's return as well as Larxene's in Kingdom Hearts III hints that Xehanort (and likely Xemnas) has forgiven them for that if they are both part of his Seekers. In the game, Marluxia believes they were brought back because Master Xehanort doesn't care about them as people and as such doesn't mind their earlier attempt at a coup. His Character File later revealed that after his death in Castle Oblivion, he didn't even get to experience being a Somebody again as from the moment he next came to, he was already a vessel for Master Xehanort.
• Disc-One Final Boss: For Organization XIII as a whole.
• Dual Boss: After Luxord is defeated in III, he and Larxene are fought as a pair.
• Dull Surprise: Keith Ferguson's delivery in normal speech initally seems lifeless compared to Shuichi Ikeda, until you listen closely to the latter's delivery, whereupon it becomes clear that even among his other roles like Char Aznable, Lahabrea, and Seijuuro Hiko, Ikeda's voice as Marluxia's in Japanese also seems rather flat, merely masked by Ikeda's natural bombast, indicating Marluxia really does talk that flat outside of combat.
• Dying as Yourself: Upon his defeat in III he suddenly remembers his true identity and his past as Lauriam and vows to reclaim it, sincerely thanking Sora for helping him to become complete once more.
• The End Is Nigh: Says this word for word when preparing to cast Doom in his bonus fight in III.
• Easily Forgiven: Subverted. Despite his attempt at a coup, Master Xehanort and Xemnas choose him as a member of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness. Master Xehanort doesn't see him as a person so he doesn't care about his earlier betrayal, and Xemnas also mentions they want to use the power within him from his Keyblade-wielding days.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Pink hair with spikes that resemble flower petals.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He's utterly perplexed, and even slightly annoyed, that Sora consciously chooses to protect Naminé even after finding out that his memories of her and the friendship they shared were all lies.
  Marluxia: "Imbeciles... You would knowingly shackle your heart with a chain of memories born of lies? You would be one who has a heart, yet cast aside your heart's freedom? You turn from the truth because your heart is weak— You will never defeat me!"
• Evil Versus Evil: Neither he nor Larxene are good in any sense of the word against the rest of the Organization that they intended to rebel against.
• The Extremist Was Right: Marluxia, along with Larxene, tried to overthrow the Organization because they believe that Xemnas doesn't truly have their best interests at heart. 3D reveals that they were absolutely right: Organization XIII was created to be vessels in Xehanort's Grand Theft Me plan, and the pair themselves are picked as vessels in the end. Who'd've thought it?
• Fallen Hero: He's the scheming, manipulative main antagonist of Chain of Memories and a major antagonist in III, but all evidence suggests that Lauriam used to be a brave and considerate keyblade wielder willing to fight for those he cares about.
• Flash Step: Combined with Teleport Spam.
• Fighting a Shadow: The first time Sora fights him, it's actually a doppelganger / illusion.
• Final Boss: Of Sora's side of Chain of Memories.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Upon encountering Sora in III and still retains his memories of their previous encounter in Castle Oblivion. When Sora makes it clear he doesn't remember him (due to his memories of the event being erased by Naminé), Marluxia also lets Sora know he hasn't forgotten him.
• Four Is Death:
  • Omni Laser uses three fours.
  • The Organization member themed around death is the fourth one to die chronologically.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: To an extent. Despite Marluxia and Larxene apparently planning to overthrow the Organization together with Larxene even referring to the two of them as "partners in crime" in III, they have shockingly little interactions with one another in Chain of Memories where they make their debut and are killed off. Averted in the manga since they both depart from the castle at some point to celebrate their success.
  • Negated as of III where they're revived and actually hold a full conversation with one another regarding the roles they play in the Organization. They later team up with Xemnas and Luxord to take on Mickey and Sora.
• Glass Cannon: In 358/2 Days, he has some of the best overall offensive stats with high Magic, Strength, Critical % and Crit Bonus, but his Defense stat is rather poor.
• Greed: After working with Roxas on one of his missions, he wanted to use the power of the Keyblade for himself. Too bad his original form was able to wield one...
• Green Thumb: Marluxia can summon flowerbuds to act as attack drones and thorns to ensnare his victims.
• The Grim Reaper: Thematically, as he blends Western and Eastern death motifs. He uses a scythe, has several sleights referring to death (i.e. Death Scythe, Doom, etc.), originally appeared as a hooded figure, and his Nobody familiar even uses the same weapon (including Dual Wielding it in its first form) and appears in a form similar to Death during the Final Battle in Re:CoM. His flowers are actually Sakura i.e. cherry blossoms that are used in funerals and signify death. III reveals that his signature Nobody servants are even called "Reapers".
• Guardian Entity: The Specter Nobody in his final form.
• Humongous Mecha: Pilots a mecha-like Nobody with scythe arms in his second form.
• Instant Sedation: By III, he shows enough skill in his elemental ability to produce a fragrance that puts foes to sleep. He uses this to knock Sora out the night of the lantern festival, distracting Donald and Goofy long enough for Gothel to get away with Rapunzel. Apparently it is strong enough that Sora couldn't wake up until the next morning, with some help.
• Interface Screw: During his final form he gains the ability to steal your cards (including the reload card) and scatter them around the battlefield.
• Irony: Marluxia is an amnesiac. Of course, he is tasked to oversee the memory-manipulating Castle Oblivion. His Ultimania character file implies he intentionally embraced the role as Lord of the Castle since he hoped it could result in the retrieval of his memories somehow.
• Joke Item: The Casual Gear gives him an enormous soup ladle, while the Mystery Gear transforms it into a gigantic flower stem.
• King Mook: To the Reaper Nobodies.
• Knight of Cerebus: Marluxia is probably second only to Xemnas in terms of being the most sinister member of Organization XIII. With his plan for altering Sora's memories, he came dangerously close to subverting Sora as his slave, breaking up Donald and Goofy's friendship in the process, and his horrible abuse of Naminé, makes him a very personal enemy of Sora. Marluxia trying to force Naminé into erasing Sora's memories and ordering Vexen's death outright reaffirms just how frighteningly cruel he can be. His presence is one of the reasons why Chain of Memories is among the darkest Kingdom Hearts titles.
• Large and in Charge: Downplayed, but he's put in charge of Castle Oblivion and has a fairly large and intimidating presence compared to the heroes and even most of the other members of the Organization. That said, Vexen is taller than him, and Lexaeus is even taller than Vexen.
• Large Ham: In the Japanese version... though he's not as large a ham as Xemnas or Saïx, though.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: It's subverted in his case. In III, while Xemnas reveals that he and the others are Keybladers from ancient times, he gives a rather unnerved scowl suggesting he knows it somewhat even if the memories aren't immediately there.
  • After he is defeated in the Keyblade Graveyard, he reveals in his last moments that he now remembers his past as Lauriam and looks forward to returning to his old form. He is noticeably along with Luxord (as of Re:Mind) the only ones who seem to remember, since Elrena and Demyx show no signs of their memories returning... yet.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Marluxia causes Sora and Axel to end up fighting when he brings Naminé to act as meat shield against the latter, which motivates Sora to prioritize Axel as a threat.
• Limit Break: Bloom-Out. Pressing the attack button will cause a black ring to slowly expand around. Pressing the attack button a second time while the ring is out will have him toss his scythe so that it revolves arouns him damaging enemies in wide area. Timing the second button press when the ring flashes pinkish-white will power up the attack to One-Hit Kill most enemies. For his Final Limit the attack changes into him teleporting to whoever he's targetting and tossing his scythe in a much larger arc and dealing immense damage to enemies in an even wider area. As before, timing the button press with the pinkish-white flash will power up the attack the same way.
• Logical Weakness: In his battles in II, the Organization member wielding the element of Flower has a problem with Fire spells. This isn't due to an elemental weakness, but the mechanics of the spell; one of Marluxia's few damaging attacks is to create pools of darkness around the arena, but hitting him before he uses it cancels it out. Since Fire lingers for a second or two when cast, it provides the largest window of opportunity to hit Marluxia and interrupt him, and leave him wide open for a combo.
• Long Haired Prettyboy: His fluffy hair reaches below his shoulders and complements his pretty looks.
• Lucky Seven: Or unlucky, as the case may be, invokedbecause this sleight casts Whirlwind to the Void.
• Magic Knight: In 358/2 Days. He's second only to Xemnas in this regard though he also has higher Critical Hit stats than Xemnas.
• Manipulative Bastard: Not as invokedmagnificent as Xemnas, Axel or Saïx and not as smug as Xaldin, Vexen or Zexion, but firmly and evenly in the middle.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Marluxia's elegant, formal and leaves a trail of petals everywhere he goes. Compare with his partner in crime, the savage Larxene.
• Meaningful Appearance: He has pink hair, to match his life-and-death motifs and cherry blossom theming.
• Mighty Glacier: In III, especially in his Data Rematch, he has one of the slower fighting styles of the Organization, as well as being the only member of the XIII Seekers to slowly step towards Sora before committing to an attack. He even uses several armor phases throughout his Data Rematch, one after he performs a ground shockwave, one for his first Doom phase and one for his scythe throwing during his second phase. The first and last don't last long, but can be used several times in the fight. His slower, heavier fighting style in his Data Rematch requires players to play patiently and know when and how to react to his attacks.
• Mind over Matter: That scythe of his floats around him when he's prepping certain magical attacks. Becomes a Flying Weapon when he tosses it at Sora in III and it keeps homing in on him.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Not as much as Larxene, but he still gets into Naminé and Sora's space a fair bit during Re:Chain of Memories and his Absent Silhouette boss battle, respectively. He has a thing for looming over them and grasping their shoulder.
• Number of the Beast: Doom takes three sixes. In addition, getting hit with it requires you to break six of his cards in six seconds to avoid getting deep-sixed.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: A recurring element throughout his various Leitmotifs.
• One-Handed Zweihänder: It's a rather large weapon but he still primarily wields it one-handed with little trouble.
• One-Hit Kill: Has many instant kill techniques fitting with his Grim Reaper motifs.
• One-Winged Angel: The only member of the Organization who has one, besides Xemnas. Re:Chain of Memories even gives him a third form.
• Personality Powers: He's brimming with deathly elements from both eastern and western ends, as evidenced by both the cherry blossoms and the scythe that he carries. It makes more sense considering that his brand of Green Thumb magic is somewhat portrayed at the opposite end of the flower-themed Cure magic. He also has the power to create fetid swamp pools, though it's more visibly obvious in III compared to II, which looked more like patches of darkness surrounded by thorns.
• Petal Power: Literally, as many of his attacks revolve around flower petals.
• Pet the Dog: Upon when he first meets Roxas, he is surprisingly kind to him and teaches him about fighting the Heartless and how to retrieve hearts. Much like Larxene after him, he had seriously considered him joining in on their betrayal plans for the Organization. As his original self had known Ventus, he was kind to Roxas by proxy and genuinely saw him as a friend.
  • In III, he sincerely thanks Sora as he fades away and begins to feel his heart returning, finally remembering who he used to be.
• Plant Person: In the manga, he is egregiously more synonymous with plant based powers than Darkness, being much more overtly associated with vines and roses. He even creates a sprawling Garden of Evil with Venus Fly Trap-like monsters in his confrontation with Sora.
• Properly Paranoid: His secret report in 358/2 Days indicates that he was always suspicous of Axel long before he freed Naminé and ruined his plot to take control of Sora.
• Psycho Pink: Pink hair, a pink scythe, and summons pink flower petals—and is definitely not a nice person.
• Race Against the Clock: Marluxia reiterates his Doom counter from his bonus battles in II into his Data rematch in III with a slightly different take. Instead of being tied to Sora's hitpoints, it will now rapidly deplete on its own and kill Sora the moment it hits 0. Sora must break through Marluxia's defenses in time to gain a reaction command that breaks the curse. He also uses it as part of his final Death or Glory Attack.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Marluxia's main element and attribute is Death but also Life due to having Green Thumb powers. It is significantly less weird due to the significance of cherry blossoms in Japan, though originally he was supposed to have been a woman as well which adds more significance to his pink theming.
• Rolling Attack: One of his Absent Silhouette attacks involves merging into the ground and spinning with his scythe as a giant bladed wheel.
  • Marluxia himself uses it during his boss fight in III as well.
• Sequential Boss: Marluxia has two stages to the fight with him at the end of Sora's side in Chain of Memories. First you fight him on foot, then he jumps into a machine and the player fights him in that. A third battle against a new form is added in Re:CoM.
• Sinister Scythe: His scythe, Graceful Dahlia.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Outside of battle he's pretty calm and softspoken in English. Especially noticeable in III.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: Spins his scythe as one of his main defensive moves.
• The Starscream: His entire plan revolves around betraying Xemnas and taking over the Organization for himself.
• Stationary Boss: His final form in Re:CoM has him rooted in place by his thorns, but this doesn't affect him much because he has his giant Nobody Specter wielding a giant version of his scythe and launching powerful attacks rapidly that can cover the field.
• Status Effects: His Optional Boss incarnations in 2FM and Re:Mind's Limit Cut episode are fond of using Doom, in his 2FM Data battle Doom works on a per-hit basis while in 3RM it's an actual timer akin to in Final Fantasy.
• The Stoic: In the English version. Becomes Not So Stoic when the battles at the end of the game come around, though.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: He sports them upon his return, indicating his vessel status and his return as a Nobody once more.
• Sword Beam: Or rather a Scythe Beam.
• Teleport Spam: Becomes incredibly fond of this in his Optional Boss incarnation, to the point that he will use his scythe to play Sora ping-pong with himself. He also combines Flash Step with it.
• The Unfought: A interesting variation of this as this more applies to Sora rather than the player in III. Due to Sora's memory loss, because of what happened in Re:CoM, Sora believes he's never fought Marluxia at all up until this encounter.
• Unblockable Attack: During his Data Rematch in Limit Cut, he'll often perform a backhanded swing with his scythe flashing red to indicate that you can't block it.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: It's shown in chi that his original self, Lauriam, was actually a polite and reserved kid who worries heavily about his sister.
• Villains Out Shopping: In the game, after Vexen is murdered, he and Larxene leave Naminé in Axel's care and both go off somewhere at the same time. The manga adds where they went was getting wasted celebrating.
• Weapon Twirling: Does this rather frequently, especially when he's about to use his powers.

Saïx (VII/VIII)

The Luna Diviner (Original Name: Isa)

See Kingdom Hearts: Saïx

Terra-Xehanort (IX)

Terra-Xehanort

See Kingdom Hearts: Xehanort's Incarnations

Dark Riku (X)

Dark Riku

"You can't have a heart without sadness... without loss."

^{Click here to see Dark Riku in Dark Mode}

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese), David Gallagher (English)

Appearances: Dream Drop Distance | III

A time-traveling and evil version of Riku who acts as Number X of the True Organization. While initially believed to be Riku from when he was possessed by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, he’s revealed to actually be the past version of the Riku Replica.

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• Arc Villain: For San Fransokyo in III.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He can't go on half a minute during a fight without boasting about his greatness or taunting his foes.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Dark Riku's data match has him attacking relentlessly without pause, you have to find the right moment to strike him while he is still attacking rather than wait for a lull. However, everything he throws is everything he has, because unlike the other data bosses, he doesn't change his fight tactics after losing half his health or gain new moves. So if you learn how to defend against and counter his moves, that's all you have to deal with. However, because he has so many moves and an unpredictable pattern with how he uses them, he still makes for a hard fight.
• Ax-Crazy: A lot of his quotes during his boss battle give this feeling. His Attack! Attack! Attack! way of fighting only adds to it.
• Badass Boast: He get's some during his boss fights.
  Dark Riku: I'll show you how powerful I am!
  Dark Riku: I'm unstoppable!
  Dark Riku: Now you know who's stronger!
• Beehive Barrier: In his Data rematch he will use Dark Shield to protect himself between attacks, forcing you to play aggressively and try to attack while he is attacking.
• Blood Knight: It's clear from his boss quotes that he takes delight in crushing his enemies in combat.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Quotes the real Riku everytime he succeeds in taking down Sora. May also qualify as an Ironic Echo since the last time the real Riku said it, he was trying to defeat Roxas to help Sora regain his memories and awaken from his forced year-long coma.
  Dark Riku: Come on, Sora! I thought you were stronger than that.
• Boss Banter: While every boss speaks during their attacks, Dark Riku's relentless attack speed and tendency to taunt Sora while attacking means he's by far the most chatty of anyone.
• Card-Carrying Villain: He claims that the time he was posessed by Ansem was his "finest hour".
• Casting a Shadow: Like the real Riku he wields vast dark powers in battle.
• Clone Angst: His insistence that he's the real one and his boastful combat lines show that he has an inferiority complex towards the real Riku.
• Death from Above: He retains the Dark Break skill, an overhead drop-slash that's accompanied by followup blasts of dark magic from the ground that home in on Sora. In his Data rematch, the followup blasts are now red and unblockable, and the attack is used as his reprisal.
• Desperation Attack: Subverted in his Data rematch, where he always pulls out his most powerful move as his fourth attack not counting reprisals.
• Dual Boss: He fights alongside Xigbar against Sora and Riku during the final battle of III.
• Duel Boss: Out of all the Data Rematches in III, Dark Riku fights the most like a character controlled by a player because he does things players would do like blocking and countering attacks, dodge cancelling moves and having no set patterns between his attacks, besides Dark Aura, which he will use every few minutes.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He first appeared in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, where he briefly confronts the real Riku in Prankster's Paradise. Notably, his eyes are still aquamarine at the time; by the time of III, he's fully succumbed to Xehanort's heart.
• Evil Is Bigger: Inverted. Since he's the Riku Replica from back in Chain of Memories, he's much shorter than the real Riku in III.
• Evil Is Easy: Unlike the real Riku who tempers and control the power of darkness with the light in his heart, Dark Riku revels in his dark power allowing him to close the gap between his older and better armed counterpart. What helps is Dark Riku has a fragment of Master Xehanort's heart in him, providing him with more power.
• Evil Weapon: Wields Riku's old Soul Eater.
• Hate Sink: He has absolutely no sympathetic qualities that could make him redeemable, unlike Riku, who started out as a villain but has a loved one who he strives to protect, hence his eventual redemption. While this can be attributed to a lack of screen time, Sora and Riku have no regrets letting his heart be extracted from his present self in the end.
• Jerkass: Remember how much of a jerk the Riku Replica was at the start of Chain of Memories before he was rebooted with the real Riku's memories? That's how Dark Riku acts all the time. Which makes sense since he is the Riku Replica.
• Lack of Empathy: He is shown to be extremely cruel, laughing at Hiro's pleas to release the original Baymax while treating the latter as nothing more than a puppet.
• Large Ham: It's been about a decade since Riku was a villain, and David Gallagher clearly delights in the opportunity to play his evil incarnation again, getting close to chewing as much scenery as Richard Epcar.
• Lightning Bruiser: He's one of the fastest and most aggresive of the Data Organization in terms of fighting style. He's constantly teleporting around the battlefield and hitting Sora and Riku with powerful and hard hitting attacks.
• Mirror Match: Downplayed. You still control Sora in your boss fight against him, but Riku is in your team. Played straight in Re:Mind, if you choose to play as Riku in the revisit.
• Mook Maker: He has a huge amount of darkness in his heart that's able to generate a colossal amount of Heartless, enough to create a massive Demon Tide.
• Moveset Clone: Dark Riku uses the same dark mines and shadow pincer as Ansem, albeit color-swapped into a purple color as opposed to Ansem's dark red. Dark Riku's mines don't move towards Sora like Ansem's do, but he deploys a lot more of them.
• Red Herring: We are led to believe that this Riku is Riku from the past at a point when he was possessed by Ansem, something he actually uses to taunt Sora. Then it was later revealed that he is the Riku Replica's time-traveling heart from the past.
• Smug Smiler: Just like the real Riku back in the first game. Doubles as an Slasher Smile as well due to his Ax-Crazy Blood Knight personality.
• Smug Super: He's extremely arrogant about his power and definetly not shy about boasting how strong he is.
• Sword Beam: He still has his old circular sword beam from the first game, as well as retaining the ability to accompany his sword swings with shockwaves along the ground. In his Data Rematch, the circular beam is now red and unblockable.
• Teleport Spam: He can use the infamous Dark Aura as his desperation attack. In his maingame fight, it's revised into a series of rapid-fire Dark Breaks, while in his Data rematch it's more like the original, only much bigger.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: During his Data rematch, Dark Riku starts almost every move he has by filling the arena with bombs. The arrangement of the bombs telegraphs which attack he's going to use.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: One of his Unblockable Attacks involves throwing the Soul Eater.
• Unblockable Attack: In his Data rematch, when his sword beams or shockwaves are red it means they are unblockable and must be dodged instead.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He doesn't display of the unique abilities the rest of the Organisation have and relies fully on spamming the basic affinity for Dark magic they all share. But as his data fight shows, it doesn't slow him down much.
• Wham Line: It's initially thought that this Riku was the real one from when Ansem possessed him in the first Kingdom Hearts. But as he's defeated in the Keyblade War, his last choice of words reveal him to be the Riku Replica from Chain of Memories.
  Dark Riku: You're not... real... I'm... the real one...
• Voice of the Legion: The fact that he doesn't have this is a hint, if not a possible dead giveaway, that this is not the Ansem-possessed Riku, as the game leads you to believe at first.

Vanitas (XI)

Vanitas

See Kingdom Hearts: Vanitas

Young Xehanort (XII)

Young Xehanort

See Kingdom Hearts: Master Xehanort

Xion (XIV/XIII)

Xion (XIV)

See Kingdom Hearts: Xion

Reserve Members

Vexen (IV)

The Chilly Academic (Original Name: Even)

"I'm a scientist. Experiments are what I do, yes."

^{Click here to see Even}

Voiced by: Tatsuya Kando (COM), Nachi Nozawa (Re:CoM, 358/2 Days, and II Final Mix, Japanese), Shigeru Chiba (III, Japanese) Derek Stephen Prince (English)

Appearances: Chain of Memories | II: Final Mix | 358/2 Days | III

"Pity to be so ignorant. As you're only able to see the surface of things, I should not expect you to appreciate my true might."

Formerly Number IV of the original Organization and a reserve member of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness. The group's resident scientist, he's always interested in new test subjects for his experiments.

Before he became a Nobody, he was Even, one of the six apprentices of Ansem the Wise who betrayed him by researching the Heartless and destroying Radiant Garden.

---

• Adaptational Badass: Not Vexen himself but rather a replica of him in the manga version of II. After being defeated by Sora in Beast's Castle, Xaldin encounters the replica in the World That Never Was and accuses it of staging an attack on the Organization as retribution for his original self being betrayed and killed off. The replica easily slays Xaldin in the ensuing battle.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Axel makes it clear he's there to "silence" Vexen, Vexen tries to beg for his life.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Injured by his fight with Sora and by Axel's sudden intervention, he pathetically begs for his life before being brutally executed by Axel while Sora is suitably shocked and horrified by this outcome.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: In Birth by Sleep, Even seems to be genuinely kind and helpful instead of the Insufferable Genius he later becomes after betraying his master.
• The Atoner: He wants and decides to atone for his past actions and gets assistance from Demyx to help recover the extra vessels in his Replica Program, along with help from Ansem the Wise and Ienzo to help restore Roxas and Naminé.
• Back from the Dead: As Even in Dream Drop Distance and has secretly done a Heel–Face Turn prior to the events of his full return in III.
• Badass Bookworm: He may be a scientist and researcher foremost, but he is no Non-Action Guy. He is unafraid of getting his hands dirty, demonstrates great skill in fighting with a bladed shield and harnessing the power of ice, and he manages to make it out of fights against Sora and Riku unscathed. It takes a 2nd intense, emotional beatdown from Sora and a sneak attack from Axel to put him down for good.
• BFS: One of his Sleights in Re:Chain of Memories has him creating a massive sword out of ice using his shield as a base for it, which he swings around several times before smashing it into the ground to unleash a final shockwave with its shattering.
• The Chew Toy: A villainous example. invokedNomura even said he has an "undeniable loser feel" to him.
• Climax Boss: The first one of Sora's story in Chain of Memories, being the first member to be rematched and killed off. The second battle also takes place during a Wham Episode, just as important revelations are about to be made.
• Creepy High-Pitched Voice: The original original version of Chain of Memories gave him an incredibly high-pitched and borderline effeminate Evil Laugh comparable to Mickey Mouse.
  • He's otherwise a downplayed example in the rest of the series, being a devious Mad Scientist and Evilutionary Biologist with a voice that's relatively high-pitched and shrill compared to most of the other members, especially the way he cackles and shrieks while in battle.
• Crosshair Aware: His Absent Silhouette in Final Mix II summons one at the start of the boss fight against him. It doesn't present an immediate threat, but being caught in it gives Vexen more data as represented by his Data meter. The more bars of Data he has, the stronger the Anti-Sora replica he creates.
• Deadly Disc: Giant Snowflakes actually.
• Deadpan Snarker: During his calm moments, very much so.
  Roxas: Wow, what do they sell here?
  Vexen: That's your job to find out, idiot.
• Death In All Directions: Surprisingly, given his element.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite his seniority and important position in the Organization, no one respects him at all.
  • This itself becomes a major plot point in III. The fact no one even in Master Xehanort's Seekers of Darkness considers Vexen past his research allows him to evade any suspicion of being a mole.
• Dull Surprise: Official artwork, his first render for Re:CoM and his default character model prior to III portray him with a neutral, half-lidded face that greatly contrasts with his voice and the facial expressions he makes when they actually animate his face.
• Even Evil Has Standards: When Vexen heard of Davy Jones and how he can live without a heart, he was instantly curious and wanted to study him. But when he saw the (biological) heart of Davy Jones for himself, he was incredibly disappointed.
• Evil Knockoff: In addition to making the Riku Replica he can make an Anti-Sora replica mid combat in his Absent Silhouette boss battle in Final Mix II
• Evilutionary Biologist: This seems to be his specialty, with his creation of the Riku Replica and Xion.
• Evil Genius: So much that despite his pathetic nature, invokedNomura said in the Japanese character report books that he and many of the development staff considered Vexen to be the most evil Organization member in Chain of Memories, being to it "what Xemnas is to KH2" in terms of malevolence.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: He's a sinister member of the Organization with deadly ice powers.
• Evil Is Hammy: Ironically significantly more expressive as a literally heartless villain than the harmless researcher he used to be. When he makes a reappearance in III and proves to be The Atoner, he's generally a bit more subdued.
• Expy: Of Professor Hojo: the Mad Scientists of their respective organizations whose work goes on to have horrible effects on the universe, a passing facial and body resemblance, plus the loopy cackles, and they even have the same seiyuu: the late Nachi Nozawa^note And Shigeru Chiba taking over the deceased seiyuu is carried over to Final Fantasy VII Remake, becoming the voice of Hojo as well. Though, this being an E-rated game, Vexen's a lot less... extreme than Hojo, and Nozawa's and Chiba's performances are significantly less frightening. Vexen also eventually undergoes a Heel–Face Turn, something a flat-out monster like Hojo would never do.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: In Chain of Memories, Axel cuts out the back of his neck while he's on his knees begging for mercy. It gets worse in Re:Chain of Memories when Axel lodges one of his chakrams into Vexen and detonates it, graphically immolating him to death. And in the Chains of Memory manga, Axel punches a hole through his chest with his chakram from the back.
• For Science!: In III, Saïx asks Vexen why he joined the Seekers, with Vexen explaining that he cares more about continuing his research in the Replica Project than regaining his humanity, even if it means letting the Seekers fill their ranks with vessels. This turns out to be a cover story as they're both in a secret partnership. He actually wants to continue work on the Replica Project to save others to atone for his past misdeeds.
• Four Is Death: He's the first of Organization XIII to be destroyed.
• Harmless Freezing: His Freeze spell. Downplayed since getting frozen by him also slowly drains your health.
• Heel–Face Turn: Appears that way at first, but in III, he disappears from Radiant Garden and joins the Seekers... or not; he ends up being a mole for the good guys. Even/Vexen simply didn't tell any of his allies he was doing it to keep anyone from letting it slip.
• His Name Is...: In CoM he ends up being executed by Axel for trying to tell Sora about Roxas.
• An Ice Person: His element is ice, which lets him summon snow and frost to barrage enemies.
• Insufferable Genius: He's easily one of the smartest minds of the Organization, and he tends to brag about it to his allies.
• Jerkass: Vexen is portrayed as a complete asshole in 358/2 Days and Chain of Memories, constantly insulting everyone else's intelligence and bragging about his meaningless rank seniority to other Organization members. He puts up a facade of this in III, but has in fact completely grown out of being it and undergone a Heel–Face Turn.
• Joke Weapon: In 358/2 Days he can be given a pot lid by equipping the Casual Gear and a snowman shield by equipping the Mystery Gear. Both have poor stats.
• Large Ham: Just listen to that laugh!
• Lean and Mean: One of the tallest, thinnest villains around, with particularly prominent cheekbones.
• Limit Break: Diamond Dust. Pressing the attack button will have him toss three large snowflakes in front him which then explode into icy stalagmites. For his Final Limit, pressing the attack button will have him wave his arms about before summoning a massive spike of ice from the ground dealing great damage in a large area.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: His shield, Frozen Pride will block any attacks in Chain of Memories while in II Final Mix. Sora can get around this by attacking from a different angle in Chain of Memories or destroying it outright in II Final Mix.
• Mad Eye: Increasingly prone to this in official renders, starting with the one for 358/2 Days and it's also present in group artwork for Final Mix II. He sports a notable one in Re:CoM before Sora's last fight with him which gets some focus in the opening to 358/2 Days. When Ienzo discusses Vexen in III, a flashback freeze frame recreates this moment using his newer higher definition model.
• Mad Scientist: "I'm a scientist. Experiments are what I do, yes."
• Meaningful Name: "Vex" means to irritate or frustrate, which Vexen does to both Sora and his own colleagues.
• Me's a Crowd: In the Chain of Memories manga he has replicas of himself. One such replica even appeared in the II manga.
• Mind over Matter: During his Optional Boss fight in II Final Mix he holds his shield in front of him using his mind instead of having it in his hand like in Chain of Memories.
  • Some of his attacks in 358/2 Days have him send out the shield with his mind to hit far off enemies.
• The Mole: Serves as this in III in a covert partnership with Saïx. He pretends to rejoin the Organization with the intention of recovering the extra replicas for Roxas and Naminé to use as vessels.
• Motive Decay: In III, he notes how his work as a scientist was supposed to help people, but somewhere along the way that line of thinking gradually faded until he was only gathering intelligence for the sake of intelligence itself.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: Tatsuya Kando, invokedhis original seiyuu from Chain of Memories, gave him one. Since it was the only voice clip of his left in, fans immediately thought that Vexen was as effeminate as one could get.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: A self-important blow-hard who competes with Demyx for being the least respected member of the Organization, but he's still an Organization member. He goes up against the heroes three separate times before finally being executed by Axel and this was after he was already clearly exhausted and injured due to an intense battle against Sora.
  • Not to mention his research on creating replicas which have had major consequences on the events of the series long after his demise.
• Parental Substitute: His previous self, Even, was one of those responsible for raising Ienzo (Zexion). Very much averted roughly 10 years later as Vexen has become nothing more than a cruel, self-absorbed Mad Scientist whom Zexion shows absolutely no respect towards.
• Personality Powers: Wields ice and is fairly cold.
• Pet the Dog: While Vexen is initially rude to Roxas, it's only because he feels he considers himself Surrounded by Idiots. As soon as Roxas begins making progress despite it being mostly small steps, Vexen is quick to praise him and is even mildly respectful of him before he leaves for Castle Oblivion.
• Power Floats: In boss fights against him, he only ever moves around by floating.
• Powers Do the Fighting: His Absent Silhouette in Final Mix II has shades of this, fighting with one hand on his face and the other folded behind his back while he merely levitates his shield in front of himself as his only means of defense. He does wave his arms about for certain attacks but for the most part he doesn't move a whole lot for his attacks. Notably, he barely moves at all when performing his Desperation Attack as vicious and relentless as it is, at least until the finisher where he starts making more dramatic motions with his arms.
• Random Power Ranking: Vexen thinks that just because he's number IV, he's superior than the majority of the members, despite the numbers meaning nothing beyond order of joining the Organization. ^note  Though Xigbar's status does indicate his being The Dragon to the original Xehanort and thus being the only member of the Organization who knows what their true goals are.
• Recurring Boss: While hardly the only member to be fought more than once, he's notable for being the only Organization member to be fought up to three times at different points in the course of one game as opposed to being fought in multiple games or as part of a Sequential Boss. Sora fights him twice before he meets his end to Axel while Riku fights him once in a chronologically earlier portion of the game.
• Redemption Promotion: Far more competent and effective at foiling the schemes of the Real Organization as The Atoner than when he was a Smug Snake unsuccessfully manipulating the heroes for his own schemes.
• Reverse Shrapnel: With chunks of ice.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: During the plotline in "The Caribbean", Vexen is interested about The Dead Man's Chest, as he believes that the secrets of how Davy Jones became a heartless yet still managed to exist as a somebody baffles his knowledge of how Hearts work. When he finally arrives to see the chest in action, he finds out to be dissapointed by the outcome, as rather to have a metaphysical heart, inside was a very real, organical heart of Davy Jones himself. He then decides to leave the world as he has waisted his time.
  Vexen: How disappointing. So this is all they meant when they said "heart." We've been chasing the wrong box this whole time.
• She-Fu: Averted normally but in 358/2 Days, Vexen of all people performs a one-handed cartwheel for his Dodge Roll animation and it's even quicker than other members' Dodge Rolls too.
• Shield Bash: His Combos in 358/2 Days involve him smacking his shield at his foes. Somewhat subverted in Re:CoM where he will more often flip his shield upside down so he can swing the sharp, pointed bottom half of his shield like a sword.
• Shielded Core Boss: In II Final Mix, he is completely invincible as long as he has his shield out, but it has its own health bar. If it shatters, he's stunned for a prolonged period of time and is completely vulnerable before he resummons his shield with an icy stalagmite attack.
• A Sinister Clue: He wields his shield in his left hand.
• Small Role, Big Impact: While it initially seems his presence in the series is confined to Chain of Memories, Days expands on his efforts and schemes and makes it very clear that he was a huge asset to the Organization. He also plays an enormous role in the background of III; even though he solely appears in Meanwhile Scenes, he has a massive effect on its entire plot. He immediately joins the Seekers' ranks at the beginning of the game, setting up a small-time boss fight — the Seekers themselves deem him a small fry who is "benched" with Demyx as mere backup, opting instead to use his replicas as mainline vessels instead. However, by being a mole, he saves Ansem the Wise (and the Twilight Town trio), provides the good guys with a replica body for Roxas to use to save Sora later, and by the end of the game his existing replicas grant bodies for Xion and Naminé as well; Roxas and Xion even become two replacement Guardians of Light when Lea and Kairi are incapacitated and kidnapped, respectively. Without directly interacting with any of the main cast, he manages to atone for his sins against the very people he had manipulated and thwarted Master Xehanort's plans.
• Smug Snake: Exceedingly arrogant for a guy with few on-screen successes and little to no respect from his peers. Even when he's mentoring Roxas and commending him on the progress he's making, he can hardly go a few sentences without propping up his own ego. Muted upon his return.
• Sore Loser: Manga-only as he has a grudge against Riku when he defeated him, which was why he created the Riku Replica in the first place.
• Spanner in the Works: He's the reason why Marluxia's plan failed in the first place, as Vexen tried to reveal to Sora the majority of Marluxia's plot and by extension Roxas's existence, which forced Axel's hand in killing him off to keep it secret but also set in motion the events for the latter's eventual Heel–Face Turn.
• Spell Blade: Can enchant his shield to make a BFS made from ice with his Slide Break sleight.
• Squishy Wizard: In 358/2 Days his Strength and Defense are both below average, but he has one of the higher Magic stats on par with the likes of Xemnas. This carries into his bossfight for II where destroying his shield makes him vulnerable to attacks leaving him with little ability to defend himself.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: It's due to becoming a Nobody again, but disappear once he returns to his original form again, as shown in the ending.
• Sycophantic Servant: He is absolutely terrified of Xemnas at all times and obediently serves his every whim, unlike most other members. It's also mentioned by Luxord that Xemnas is aware of Vexen's fear and smooth talks him into once in a while to keep him competent, as his research is very important to his needs.
• Theme Naming: In Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, the names of his shields come from terms related to the cold or science.
• Thin Chin of Sin: Has a thinner, pointier chin than the other members and his experiments made him one of the most nefarious among their ranks.
• Throwing Your Shield Always Works: All of his combo finishers in 358/2 Days involve this though he often employs Mind over Matter as well.
• The Unfavorite: To the Organization as a whole. No one likes or has much patience for Vexen even among his older colleagues. It still sticks as of III where he and Demyx are ultimately "benched" by the Seekers because of this.
• Verbal Tic: In the English dub, he'll sometimes end his sentences with a short "yes."
• Villainous Cheek Bones: the only member of the Organization to have these.

Demyx (IX)

The Melodious Nocturne (Original Name: Unknown)

"I am extremely imposing... when I want to be. Which is, admittedly, almost never."

Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese), Ryan O'Donohue (English)

Appearances: II | 358/2 Days | III

"Do you ever get the urge to do something stupid... and AWESOME!? Wait, wait, I'm getting something... nope, it's gone."

The former Number IX of the original Organization and a reserve member of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness. Demyx is a bit of a goof and a slacker that would rather play music over work, but is capable of turning in good results when pressed. He has the ability to control water and wields a sitar in battle.

---

• '80s Hair: Proudly sports a mullet.
• Accidental Truth: "Oh, we do too have hearts! Don't be mad..."
• Affably Evil: Along with Luxord he's one of the nicer Organization members.
• Affectionate Nickname: Calls Xigbar "Xiggy" in 358/2 Days.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Invoked at least in the manga. Demyx, convinced by Saïx that Roxas betrayed them to bond with Sora and wipe them out, attacks Sora after he, once again, taunts him about lacking a heart. Upset by Roxas' treachery, Demyx lashes out and fights Sora, but loses and is crushed by his own frozen water. Demyx ends up shedding tears as he fades away, asking Roxas why. Sora watches on in confusion. The next panel shows Sora's tight mouth, implying it is Roxas watching through his eyes. Sora is also left particularly confused by Demyx's reaction.
• Back from the Dead: He returns in III as a reserve member of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness.
• Berserk Button: While Demyx is extremely passive and cowardly in regard to most taunts and barbs, being taunted about his lack of a heart proves to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Despite being lazy, air-headed, and running away from fights, when he finally does confront Sora, he proves that's he's a very competent fighter.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: He hates to work but is a reconnaissance specialist and also a highly capable fighter and mage as it eventually turned out. Justified since as much as he wants to be a Lazy Bum, he unfortunately works for Organization XIII.
• Butt-Monkey: When not in battle, Demyx usually has a more comedic role in both game and manga and is more likely to end up in a misfortune than the rest.
• Climax Boss: His boss fight is sandwiched between a myriad of major events and plot revelations in II and from that point forward, the Organization members become noticeably more active in causing mayhem in the various worlds.
• Comedic Sociopathy: In Days. He's not malicious at all, but he's apathetic to an unhealthy degree, which is played entirely for laughs.
• Creepy Monotone: In the Japanese version. When Sora and Donald continue to mock him, he drops his cowardly act and shows his real personality.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: And HOW! Upon meeting Sora and his friends the second time he stops being pleasant and gains new, surprisingly deadly fighting skills. It makes more sense when you remember that he is a humanoid Nobody, and after all, by default that he means he must've had a powerful will when he was human... which was pretty powerful enough that he was once a Keyblade wielder.
• Cue Card: Brings one out during his first confrontation with Sora.
• Dance Battler: In a more unorthodox fashion than his Dancer Nobodies who are a more typical example of this trope, unnatural movements aside. When he's actually trying to use his sitar for close range attacks, he often spins and twirls about trying to slice enemies with his sitar's bladed headstock while still holding it normally. It's rather theatrical with some of the animations in 358/2 Days making him resemble a rockstar.
• Death from Above: Can carpet bomb a huge chunk of the arena with balls of water.
• Death In All Directions: Surprisingly, given his Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass status.
• Dismotivation: His reaction to the result of the operation at Castle Oblivion is relief that he wasn't sent there. When Xigbar tells him he has to work double duty to cover for it, Demyx's response is: "Roger that. Remind me to underachieve twice as hard from now on."
• Establishing Character Moment: When Sora first encounters him in II, he's running away from Hades.
• Friendless Background: He confirms it to Vexen upon being asked for his help in III on how many times he or anyone from the Organization ever really hung around with him, but agrees to help him as long as he's not fighting.
• Friendly Enemy: Attempts this sort of relationship with Sora and his friends in II but it's generally only a one-sided deal since Sora and company usually end up confused at best by his demeanor or outright annoyed and hostile at worst.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: One of the reasons the water clone fights take long as they do without the Fire spell in your possession.
  • Even outside of the water clone attack, a common tactic of his in the beginning is to use water magic to explosively launch himself around the arena, keeping away from Sora and only taking brief pauses to blast Sora with more water from a safe distance. That said he does use other more aggressive attacks and tactics that let him fight at close-range as the fight goes on.
• Having a Blast: Aside from the water clones, his ability to control water in battle seems to be limited to forming exploding orbs of water or more often conjuring spouts of water from the ground. Overall, the way he uses his magic is reminiscent of the sort of flashy special effects and pyrotechnics you'd expect from a rock concert albeit water-based. Rather fitting, considering what weapon he uses.
  Demyx: Ain't it a blast?
• The Hedonist: 358/2 Days shows that, while not necessarily a malicious person, Demyx isn't one to really care about other people's problems so long as he has a good time. His reaction to The Reveal about Xion is to go "Intense!" and then teleport away without a second thought.
• Heel–Face Turn: In III he joins up with Vexen to recover extra vessels in the Replica Program to revive Roxas due to Vexen informing him of Saïx's hidden motives to atone too. It isn't entirely certain he'll remain good given he only helped out because he basically had nothing better to do and the task didn't require any fighting, but it is likely he made a full turn to good since he was a Punch-Clock Villain in the first place anyway. He ultimately disappears from III once his role in the story is complete.
  Demyx: [To Riku] It's a long story, but I'm sorta on your side...
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Calls himself "useless" and "a chicken" in III when Vexen tries to get his assistance in performing some more heroic and benevolent deeds behind the backs of the Seekers of Darkness.
• An Ice Person: Specializes in Blizzard magic as an ally in 358/2 Days.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: According to the Kingdom Hearts Series Character Files, a big part of the reason he joined Organization XIII was to make friends. He notes how the members had formed tightly-knit groups like Axel and Saïx, and Marluxia and Larxene. He ended up hanging out with the "old guy" a lot who is likely Xigbar based on their tendency to hold conversations with one another in 358/2 Days.
• Improbable Use of a Weapon: While a sitar is already an Improbable Weapon, the way he uses it at close-range particularly in Days manages to make him stand out from other characters who use guitars as weapons. While he does have certain combos where he'll swing it by the neck like a club as you'd expect, he mostly tries to slice at enemies with that bladed pointy headstock while still holding the sitar normally, often spinning and twirling about in a theatrical rockstar sort of way.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: He's just kinda pathetic, to the point that he has to be forced to even go on missions and spends a lot of them cringing in fear. Taken to extremes in the tie-in manga, where he not only fails his job of keeping Kairi a prisoner, but after she escapes when he tracks her down instead of using force he just begs her to come back, saying that he'll be in trouble if she leaves. Kairi initially socks him in the face and runs off, but his pleading is so pathetic that she eventually relents and agrees to be taken prisoner again.
• Informed Flaw: Everyone treats him like some sort of inept weakling including himself at times. Multiple journal entries will even make note of his apparent lack of fighting ability. Admittedly we don't see him displaying much of a work ethic when undergoing missions in either II or 358/2 Days, and the very first time he tries to fight Sora in the Underworld, he simply makes him fight water clones before fleeing, apparently exhausted and defeated. The very next time Sora meets him though, he's actually a proper boss fight and invokedfar more dangerous in battle than you'd expect from a guy Sora explicitly calls a wimp. That the story continues to treat him as ineffectual including entries released later suggest that it may either be a case of Gameplay and Story Segregation or possibly Obfuscating Stupidity as detailed more below. The way some of his words contradict one other and his general lack of screentime and plot relevance make it unclear.
  • Even his playable incarnation in 358/2 Days can be formidable with the right set of equipment. In fact, his stat distribution suggests that he's physically stronger than other more respected members like Larxene, Vexen, and Zexion
• Instrument of Murder: His Sitar, Arpeggio.
• Jerkass Ball: For as much as he's one of the more affable within the Organization, he has a few obliviously cruel moments.
  • His own reaction to learning about the deaths of the Organization members sent to Castle Oblivion is cheerfully callous, especially in the case of Larxene— although she does treat him pretty badly in 358/2 Days from what we see of their interactions, and again in III after she's revived.
  • He winds up ditching Roxas during several missions under the pretense of splitting up the work.
• Joke Weapon: Equipping him with the Casual Gear in 358/2 Days gives him a tennis racket, and Mystery Gear gives him a broom. Neither have very good stats.
• King Mook: To the Dancer Nobodies.
• Large Ham: Demyx reveals Ansem the Wise's arrival through the Dark Corridor with a Tah-Dah and jazz hands. Some of his pained sounds in combat also border on melodramatic and his overall fighting style makes for a loud and flashy enemy.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Implied. In III, Xemnas reveals that he and the others are Keybladers from ancient times, which surprises them, implying that they don't remember their pasts.
• Laughably Evil: Demyx has no qualms about committing evil deeds... but he's usually really bad at carrying them out.
  • He also has one of the more light-hearted boss fights among the organization as dangerous as he is. He's prone to letting out a comical "Uh oh!" when his more powerful attacks fail to register. He also has some rather goofy vocalizations when getting struck, often yelping in pain rather than grunting and groaning like the others.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: "Silence, traitor." Coupled with the first time you ever hear invokedThe Thirteenth Dilemma.
• Limit Break: Wave Gigs. Pressing the attack button will have him enter a "music playing stance" where he can slowly walk around and there will be brief flashes of light around him. Pressing the attack button rhythmically with the flashes will cause water spouts to erupt around him, starting with a single spout and increasing in number until maxing out at four spouts surrounding him with every successful button press. During his Final Limit, successfully making four water spouts appear will be followed by him creating a huge damaging explosion of water though it delays the timing everytime so you have to be careful and watch out for the flashes to keep doing it in succession. He can't jump when in the "music playing stance" but not pressing any buttons for roughly half a second will have him revert back to regular controls. His attacks in this state also have great vertical range so you don't have to worry about hitting most aerial enemies.
• The Load: The difference between him and Xion is that at least Xion actually tries fighting instead of looking for excuses.
• Lovable Coward: Especially in 358/2 Days, in which he's a lazy coward who bribes Roxas to do missions for him... but he's just so funny while being this.
• Magic Music: Manipulates water by playing his sitar.
• Making a Splash: Channels water with his sitar to create torrential pillars and liquid clones for Sora to fight.
• Meaningful Name: It's mostly played with by the fact that a possible name (in Emyd) is a set of 50 families in the genus of emydidae turtles... and the only other name which could work is also the name of an ancient Greek city (Dyme) which was the start of the ancient Olympic Games, suggesting a possible origin from Olympus, as well. Make that of what you will...
  • Since there's been a popular fan theory that he could be a certain master due to his wacky mannerisms, the way his Nobody name is spelled without the X also means "half", which does at times befit his personality as he tends to be half-afraid, but yet half-brave.
• Mind over Matter: A minor example but that strapless sitar of his never drops even when he's not even holding it.
• Musical Assassin: Is armed with a deadly sitar. Scared? invokedYou will be.
  • Emphasized in Days, where he's forced to use his sitar extensively for various close-range attacks rather than primarily using it to channel his water magic.
• Minion with an F in Evil: He's introduced yelling "Run, run away!" and carries cue cards to remind him of mission objectives.
• Mook Maker: Demyx can create water duplicates or music notes by playing his sitar. A regular challenge in fighting him is to kill the clones he creates within a time limit.
• Mysterious Past: As of Re:Mind he's the one Organization member who we know absolutely nothing about. Even Re:Mind hints that Luxord knows more about what's going on than he appears to. The only thing about his past we know of is that, according to Xemnas, he's one of the ancient Keyblade Wielders. But his original self never showed up in χ.
• Non-Action Guy: Gameplay and Story Segregation aside, he's meant to be this.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Sora and his friends don't believe his Accidental Truth and wonder just how much of a kook he really is. Then he starts to actually fight back.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: A distinct possibility. He acts like a Lovable Coward but when Sora and Donald make it clear they have No Sympathy for him, Demyx immediately gets serious and attacks, suggesting that he was just pretending to have feelings like cowardice. And there's also the fact that his original self once wielded a Keyblade.
  • On one hand, both II and III have him defending his combat capabilities to other hostile characters like Sora and his friends or Larxene when they try to insult his general competency. Notably he notes how you shouldn't judge one's abilities based on appearance and that he can be imposing if he wants to be which is not often. However, he also tells Roxas in 358/2 Days that he's not cut out for combat and when Vexen tries to get help from him in III, he claims to be "useless" and a "chicken" though it should be noted that both times he was trying to get out of doing dangerous work. In any case, it's rather unclear which of these contrasting statements he truly believes in.
• Oh, Crap!: Get rid of all his water clones in time, or successfully hit him with a reaction command, and he'll respond with a singsongy "Uh-ohhh!".
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Sora and Donald heckle him about not having a heart, he immediately drops his Affably Evil persona and decides to take killing the party a lot more seriously. Even Sora is stunned into silence at the sudden switch in demeanor.
• Personality Powers: Demyx doesn't generally fit the definition of a water user at first. However, water is the element of change and mutability. Calm and placid in one moment, harsh and brutal the next. Fits quite nicely for his Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass persona.
• Plucky Comic Relief: The goofiest out of all the Organization members, Xigbar even asks how he managed to survive in the manga.
• The Power of Rock: In 358/2 Days only, he will often end his combos by blasting enemies with sound-waves generated from his various sitars. For a few weapons though, he'll instead resort to simply smashing Heartless over the head by swinging his sitar by the neck and using it as a makeshift club. Ironically, these tend to be some of his strongest attacks.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: "Silence, traitor."
• Punch-Clock Villain: Much like Luxord after him, Demyx's only purpose in life is to make songs.
• Quirky Bard: Most of the time, which acts as a reference to Final Fantasy and its "Bard" class. Of course, as you can tell, he can become a Lethal Joke Character when prompted to.
• Satellite Character: In II he's really only there to be an enemy and fill the Number IX position in the Organization, and otherwise doesn't play much of a role in the overarcing plot. III makes him a reserve member of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness, and he has a brief but critical role as the one who brings Ansem the Wise to the Radiant Garden laboratory along with an empty replica vessel which is used to house Roxas's heart. Because he's such a Satellite Character that none of the higher ups in the Seekers would suspect him.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Because of how the series handles elemental affinities, Demyx is classified as an ice-type enemy despite his element in the Organization being Water. Thus, he's weak to the Fire element.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Upon encountering Hades, Demyx abandons his mission and runs away much to Sora's confusion. The manga shows the results of him bailing from the mission, with Xigbar scolding him. Invoked again for good in III after he does his part in Vexen's and Saïx's hidden plot to recover the extra vessels.
• Shout-Out: The tennis racket is called the "Prince of Awesome" and the description says that it "looks awfully familiar..." While all Casual Gear weapons have that description, the name and shape of the weapon make the reference too hard to ignore.
  • His weapon with the Ultimate Gear panels equipped is called Up To Eleven.
• Simpleton Voice: The rest of the Organization's members generally sound fairly dangerous... except for him, with a voice that sounds fairly moronic (see Un-Evil Laugh below, for just one example)... at least until it's time to get serious.
• The Slacker: He prefers to play his sitar rather than fight Sora. Even worse in the manga where he makes his game counterpart semi-competent, always running off to other worlds or reading manga. It's this reason why Saïx has to put a tracker on his clothes. This is lampshaded in III when an incredulous Larxene wonders how someone like him got brought back for the Seekers:
  Demyx: Well you heard what [Marluxia] said. I don't have to be smart.
  Larxene: Or capable, or likable, or attractive. A cereal bowl would make a better vessel.
  Demyx: Whoa now, you are way out of line. I am extremely imposing...when I want to be. Which is, admittedly, almost never.
• The So-Called Coward: He vehemently dislikes fighting to the point of cowardly fleeing in his debut in II and is often dismissed as an incompetent wimp. He proves to not only be a surprisingly dangerous fighter but he's rather confident in battle too, pulling a Slasher Smile after summoning his sitar before the boss fight in Hollow Bastion and taunting Sora for most of said fight. There's even a still image of him in one of the HD cutscenes for 358/2 Days where he's fighting alongside Roxas with that same confident grin. As he's stated before, he can be extremely imposing when he wants to be.
• Spanner in the Works: In III since he is generally an incompetent boob, he is benched by Xehanort as a spare for his Evil Plan, however this leaves him free to aid Vexen in betraying the Seekers by delivering both Ansem the Wise and a replica for Roxas to Ienzo. After meeting Riku in the Keyblade Graveyard he later retrieves and safely delivers the replica body meant for Naminé as well, as revealed in Re:Mind.
• Squishy Wizard: Not the strongest one out of the bunch, but he does have a surprising amount of magic to spare.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: He sports these, like Vexen, due to becoming a Nobody again.
• Teeth Clenched Team Work: Larxene definitely hates him.
• Third-Person Person: He sports this at least once in both the main game and in Re:Mind as a reference to the popular web parody "Demyx Time".
  Demyx: Yes! Demyx time.
• This Cannot Be!: His last words are "NO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"
• This Is Gonna Suck: Every time you get through his timed water clone phase, he'll let out a comically subdued "Uh oh!" as he's left wide open to punishment. If you pull off the "Show Stealer" Reaction Command, avoiding his attempt to slash at Sora with his sitar's headstock, he'll let out the same exclamation right before Sora strikes him back.
• Un-Evil Laugh: During Sora's first encounter with the Organization in II, they have a joint Evil Laugh... with Demyx's nervous sigh standing out kind of painfully.
• The Unfavorite: In III, as the Seekers bench him and Vexen due to this, accordingly.
• Uriah Gambit: With The Reveal in Dream Drop Distance and assuming that he's not just goofing around when he claims he too has a heart, it's possible that Xemnas sent him to fight Sora to get him killed because his heart had regrown.
• Villainous Friendship: In 358/2 Days, he gets along quite well with Xigbar who is similarly laid-back, goofy and Affably Evil. They're often seen conversing together in the Grey Room. He even has an Affectionate Nickname for him, "Xiggy".
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Aside from the somewhat literal Warmup Boss Axel, he is the first Organization XIII member to be fought roughly halfway through the story of II and sets the standard of difficulty for every following fight against Organization members in said game.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In III after he delivers Ansem the Wise and a blank replica for Roxas to use to Ienzo, Demyx completely disappears from the story. He doesn't even appear in the Earn Your Happy Ending scene that everyone else does. Re:Mind does at least feature a possible hint of his return, since he has a Gummiphone from Ienzo.
• Wham Line: The final lines of his character file qualify. Not only has he encountered a man implied to be the Master of Masters enough times that he can identify him by his Catchphrase, it's indicated that he might have a special destiny that he has yet to fulfill.
  Demyx: But yeah, it's just like he was always saying- y'know, the "may your heart be your guiding key" guy? Hey, but wait, what's it supposed to be guiding me to again?
• Wild Card: Where do his allegiances truly lie? What does he seek to do by helping the Organization, only to pull off a partial Heel–Face Turn and then disappear in III? If you were to ask him, he phrases it as a sort of whimsy due to his dislike for fighting and trying to pass the time, but it's hard to tell what his greater motivations are, and he mostly helps Vexen solely because he was asked to.

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