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DAE not like the direction Nomura has taken with Xigbar?



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MoonRabbit

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It seems like most of the fandom thought Xigbar being Luxu was a pretty cool twist. But I have to say, I was really disappointed by it. And the reason is because I thought Braig/Xigbar was such an interesting character. He was "a fool desirous of the Keyblade's power".
Xigbar: Duh! You're strong because of the ties you have with other people. As if the Keyblade would choose a wimp like you. But no pouting. We see much bigger and better things in your future...once you side with us.
Sora: I know the Keyblade didn't choose me, and I don't care. I'm proud to be a small part of something bigger--the people it did choose. My friends. They are my power!
(Behind Sora stand the images of Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, Xion, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. They hold their weapons out, facing Xigbar)
Xigbar: Those are just words. You've lost.
Remember how nervous he got in this scene? He was truly intimidated by the power of Sora's bonds. That wasn't an act. To be worthy of the Keyblade, you must possess a strong heart. And that is determined by your connections to other people. What is Xigbar's basic weapon called in 358/2 Days? "Stand Alone".
Xigbar: Figures. If I had a Keyblade, it’d be different…
Sora: Like you’re actually worthy to use one.
Xigbar: Oh, I am worthy.
Sora: Whaddaya mean?
Xigbar: The old coot promised to bequeath me his. Why else do you think I would ever put up with all his nonsense?
Riku: It’d be wasted on you.
Xigbar: As if.
My personal speculation was that Braig did NOT possess a strong heart. He did not possess the potential to wield a Keyblade, and that was why he agreed to become half-Xehanort. His suicide actually left an impact on me. It was one of the best scenes in KH3, IMO. He was definitely the most despicable of the original apprentices. But I actually felt sad for him. He was the epitome of a weak heart. He had no close bonds with anyone. He did not try to atone, like Even did. He did not show remorse like Dilan or Ienzo, who broke down in tears when Ansem returned. So, what else did he have left after realizing he wouldn't get his prize? Absolutely nothing. A perfect end for him.

Then later on, we find out that apparently, he was just pretending to commit suicide, and his WHOLE personality was just an ACT! That was really his Keyblade the whole time and he was just sticking close to Xehanort to keep an eye on it. Really? Come on, man. I like twists. But only when they are appropriate. This twist just did not ring true whatsoever, and I don't think it did justice to his character. In fact, it robbed him of everything his character was all about. TBH, I didn't like the direction KHUX and KH3 and took with most of the organization members' backstories, but Xigbar really stands out. Like, the blatant disregard for all of his previous characterization is just so BAD.
 

cakito123

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I tend to agree with you because Xigbar is a really great character as XIGBAR through the series as a whole. However I don't agree on the Braig having a weak heart and not being able to wield a keyblade - all Org XIII's members had strong hearts - that's why they become sentient and human Nobodies after all.

But I did feel weird too in his revelation because I thought an identity revelation should at least show us some motivations - but his was really blurry, and the reveal (and union x) didn't answer us anything about his motives, only his past. As it stands right now, I don't think they made justice to xigbar too.

However, we still have space and games for him to show how, why, and for how long his Luxu personality has become Xigbar - if nomura pulls the trigger making the latter a completely different person from now on, almost erasing xigbar as we know him - I'd hate that as much as you. But I still have hope (and excitement) that Xigbar's journeys of surprises won't end here. I at least want to see him go really dark and bad (ala Xehanort in BBS) with his new keyblade for at least a whole game, being the xigbar we know and love. So that we can see Xigbar and Luxu as one full fledged character, not a retconned one.
 
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It was definitely pulled straight out of the ass. A twist for the sake of being a twist and keeping Xigbar important.

Same with...every character, really. None of them are any longer allowed to be themselves just for the sake of it. They all have to be super important connected to someone somewhere over something. Larxene isn't allowed to be her own bitch. Demyx is no longer the goof he always was. Marluxia was actually super kind! ...Despite, you know, Chain of Memories everything.

Just watch. Eventually, even Lea and Isa are gonna be revealed to be somehow connected to the past or some shit...
 
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MoonRabbit

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However I don't agree on the Braig having a weak heart and not being able to wield a keyblade - all Org XIII's members had strong hearts - that's why they become sentient and human Nobodies after all.
It's true that all the Org XIII members had strong hearts to leave behind Nobodies, but Braig was already Norted by the time he became a Nobody. Remember the scene in KH1 where Riku lost control of the Keyblade because his heart was too weak? And Ansem tells him his heart can become stronger by opening up to darkness. I imagined that the case with Braig was probably similar. But it's all just speculation.

We don't really know much about Luxu. We know that his name means "lust". And that in the future, he was responsible for the MoM's Keyblade being passed to Xehanort. And Braig was lusting over the power of the Keyblade. I can buy that a symbolic connection was always there. But I think Nomura came up with the whole idea of "Xigbar was possessed by Luxu" only with KH3. But who knows. Maybe we'll learn more about Luxu in Dark Road.

It was definitely pulled straight out of the ass. A twist for the sake of being a twist and keeping Xigbar important.

Same with...every character, really. None of them are any longer allowed to be themselves just for the sake of it. They all have to be super important connected to someone somewhere over something. Larxene isn't allowed to be her own bitch. Demyx is no longer the goof he always was. Marluxia was actually super kind! ...Despite, you know, Chain of Memories everything.

Just watch. Eventually, even Lea and Isa are gonna be revealed to be somehow connected to the past or some shit...
I can't believe that even after all these years, we still know nothing about Demyx or Luxord as humans. At least with Luxord, it seems like we'll finally learn more about him. He gave Sora a "wild card". The Fool in the tarot deck, representing "the beginning of everything". And what was MX's goal? To give the world a "new start". Luxord was so cool and mysterious. If I had to pick one original Org. XIII member to have a special connection to the Keyblade War, Scala ad Caelum, the Foretellers, it would have been him.

I actually liked the idea of Marluxia being a good guy who became an empty husk after his sister died. Part of him died when Strelitzia did. I think it really fit his final boss form in CoM. And it fit the whole "reaper" theme he had going. Maybe he wanted to harvest hearts and complete KH to reconnect with Strelitzia somehow? But he's also an amnesiac time-travelling union leader? That is where it crosses the line. He and Larxene never seemed to have amnesia. They both acted like they were motivated by a very specific goal in CoM. I can buy the fact that Marluxia wanted Sora as his puppet because he wanted to resurrect Strelitzia or something. I can buy that Larxene wanted to help him because she had romantic feelings for him as a human. They were shackled by the chains of their memories, you could say. But them both being amnesiac Dandelions? No.

As far as Lea and Isa, you worded it very well. It felt like they weren't allowed to just exist as characters for their own sake anymore. They HAD to be connected to the new union leader plot arc, no matter how contrived it was. Even with the original vanilla KH2, I always suspected that Axel was a former test subject. The way he delighted in killing Vexen and Zexion. His overly clingy relationship with Roxas. Yes, even in vanilla KH2, I got the sense that Axel was so fixated on Roxas because as a human, he lost his best friend in the experiments or something. Dude seemed to have severe abandonment issues. In Days, he makes a joke that he had dark secrets and he was plotting with Saix. Then BBS showed him and Isa sneaking into the castle.

I was expecting them to get a detailed tragic backstory as lab rats, explaining why Saix had his scar and was a Nort, and why Lea could use dark corridors even as a regular human. Then Isa could actually be a sympathetic character and someone we would want to see Lea bring back in KH3. Instead, their backstory was handwaved away and summed up in three sentences. Oh, Saix became evil because he was looking for that test subject girl. Ya know, that time-travelling Dandelion with amnesia who's going to be very important in the new arc! Wink, wink. As for Axel, he was the same exact character from KH2, only more comic relief this time. Did he ever have to confront his demons and his unhealthy clinginess to Roxas? No. Does he ever apologize to Roxas for lying to him or keeping his connection to Ventus a secret? No.
 

Zettaflare

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Xigbar is my favorite character and I also had some mixed feelings upon finding out he was someone else entirely. But I can somewhat accept that he is still technically the same person I first saw in KH2 and followed since.

At least the reveal made me curious about the actual Braig and the circumstances that lead him to losing his body. And if his Heart is still around somewhere.
 
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SweetYetSalty

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With Xigbar I liked the Luxu twist when it first happened. Now that KH3 has been out and I've had time to think about it all I still like it but I get what's being said here. Before he was Luxu, Xigbar felt like the closest thing Sora had to a arch nemesis. The anti-Sora if you will. He knew all about Keyblades but didn't have one himself while the boy he was opposing did and knew nothing about their history. This was a great subtle relationship the two had because in a way it almost made Xigbar feel envious of Sora. Xigbar being this ancient Keyblade Master does sour some of the dynamics, and there are things I don't like about it. The only reason I won't say it's bad is because they've been building up to Xigbar/Braig doing something big for years. It might not have been what I was expecting but it was a payoff. I'm waiting to see how Xigbar is presented in a future game before I lean to heavily on the matter.

I was expecting them to get a detailed tragic backstory as lab rats, explaining why Saix had his scar and was a Nort, and why Lea could use dark corridors even as a regular human. Then Isa could actually be a sympathetic character and someone we would want to see Lea bring back in KH3. Instead, their backstory was handwaved away and summed up in three sentences. Oh, Saix became evil because he was looking for that test subject girl. Ya know, that time-travelling Dandelion with amnesia who's going to be very important in the new arc! Wink, wink. As for Axel, he was the same exact character from KH2, only more comic relief this time. Did he ever have to confront his demons and his unhealthy clinginess to Roxas? No. Does he ever apologize to Roxas for lying to him or keeping his connection to Ventus a secret? No.
Riku and DiZ could also use Corridors of Darkness as regular humans. I don't think that was suppose to mean anything. Also out of curiosity what are Lea's demons? Because he is the most carefree, wisecracking character in KH3, what demons is he facing? I fully agree he needs to apologize to Roxas and others for the crap he did. But unhealthy clinginess? Lea/Axel did a lot of bad stuff, but befriending Roxas wasn't one of them. It was one of the few human qualities he had left. Roxas didn't know about Ventus and that was not the drama that went down when their friendship began to break.
 

Chie

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Xigbar was always based on Revolver Ocelot. This is just the logical conclusion of that.
 

Elysium

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I was expecting them to get a detailed tragic backstory as lab rats, explaining why Saix had his scar and was a Nort, and why Lea could use dark corridors even as a regular human. Then Isa could actually be a sympathetic character and someone we would want to see Lea bring back in KH3. Instead, their backstory was handwaved away and summed up in three sentences. Oh, Saix became evil because he was looking for that test subject girl. Ya know, that time-travelling Dandelion with amnesia who's going to be very important in the new arc! Wink, wink. As for Axel, he was the same exact character from KH2, only more comic relief this time. Did he ever have to confront his demons and his unhealthy clinginess to Roxas? No. Does he ever apologize to Roxas for lying to him or keeping his connection to Ventus a secret? No.
That's what I expected, too. I think that could still be shown at some point even if now we have some random female character shoved into the picture to divert attention from Saix's over-strong feelings towards Axel (and by extension Roxas and Xion) in the games leading up to 3.
 

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I disagree with everything you said, lol. Xigbar was hinted at being bigger than what he seemed since his introduction in KH2, it just took a while for us to get every piece of the story.

I loved the twist and it gave much more weight to his character to me. Just being a punchbag didn't sit right with me because the whole argument of not having a strong heart didn't sit right because 1. you had to have one to be a Nobody 2. anyone can be a Keyblade Wielder, really. Not even going into detail about how X showed us that every generic character could be one, 3D and upwards gave everyone a key just for the sake of it. I'm expecting Isa to show up with one in the next game as well. lol

While they definitely could have given him a better reason to want a Keyblade so bad, I really liked the whole twist. It's not a matter of being the true mastermind, either, like how a lot of games go (at least it doesn't seem to be the case); him just being an observer with a hidden agenda is really cool.

On top of that, you said that it's a disregard to his previous identity; I don't think that is the case. Luxu lived countless lives thoughtout the years and I would love to see how this is explored in the future and how fractured his mind could be, as well as how much he actually takes from each life he lived as.

Also, I REALLY like Revolver Ocelot. It didn't click with me until Chie said it, but wow, they really pulled that off here.
 

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Xigbar twist was splendid to me. In both organizations, from the moment we met him on screen, Xigbar has always been the least servile organization member. When everyone was up high in Radiant Garden, taunting Sora, Xigbar elected spontaneously to teleport down and mock Sora personally. Where it seemed everyone had someone to answer to, mostly in Xemnas, Xigbar never seemed like he was taking orders from anyone. Most members of the organization held Xemnas in some kind of regard, but Xigbar, as early as 2FM, was only inquisitive and blunt, wanting to gather more intel.

Post KH2 he's essentially a free agent within the new organization. He issues commands, he's allowed to act however he pleases, to the point where Saix, the closest thing to a manager the group has, has no idea what Xigbar is up to and doesn't even question him. He stands on equal footing with Xemnas when confronting Sora, and even barks at Xehanort himself, asking the old man what his next step is.

He could never have been a simple fool desiring power because he carried a distinct rejection of authority. He had no reverence for Xehanort and his plan, and never offered him any extra respect. After waving a gun in his face, shouting at him, and basically not contributing to his plans at all, Xehanort still privately promised to bequeath Xigbar his Keyblade. I see no reason why Xigbar or Xehanort would lie about this. Xehanort saw in Xigbar the power to wield an extremely important Keyblade, without even knowing who he truly was. And all Xigbar had to do was be himself. Not literally admitting that he's Luxu, but never putting on an act that he was a lowly grunt.

In each appearance, he made it clear he was more knowledgeable, confident, and important than most of his cohorts. The one thing he never sold any of us on was that he was a fool.
 

Chie

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Yeah, I'm not really sure what other way there even was to read Xigbar. I don't think "a guy with a weak heart" is an interesting character because that doesn't actually mean anything. And I like pathetic villains, but Xigbar isn't even overly villainous. If you take the character file book seriously (which is up to you), his warnings to Sora in Olympus were intended to be taken earnestly and not as taunting, which is really interesting to me.
 

MoonRabbit

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Riku and DiZ could also use Corridors of Darkness as regular humans. I don't think that was suppose to mean anything.

Well, Nomura said opening the corridors is supposed to be very rare for normal people, made possible by strong feelings like hatred. And in the Xehanort Reports, it says, "the lanes and corridors that run between the worlds may only be traversed by us Keyblade wielders, and those who have given themselves over to darkness." So, after 3D, I thought we were due for an explanation as to why Lea could open them. Nomura even said he wanted to wield the Keyblade so he could travel between worlds without the corridors, to search for his friend.

Also out of curiosity what are Lea's demons? Because he is the most carefree, wisecracking character in KH3, what demons is he facing? I fully agree he needs to apologize to Roxas and others for the crap he did. But unhealthy clinginess? Lea/Axel did a lot of bad stuff, but befriending Roxas wasn't one of them.

Well, that was my problem with KH3 Axel. He was NOT actually carefree in Days or KH2. Like, at all. That was the mask he wore when he was hanging out with Roxas and Xion, to protect their innocence. But he was hiding a lot of demons from them. He felt ashamed when he first saw Xion's face because not long before, he was happily going to murder Namine without a second thought. Axel himself admitted that he was "more broken" than Xion. He was an assassin. Xaldin was confused why he wouldn't eliminate Roxas because he had ruthlessly eliminated so many people before. Axel asked Roxas to meet him again in the next life. And he said "just because you have a next life". He didn't think he was gonna get a next life, because he saw himself as a bad person.

I don't think him befriending Roxas was part of his demons. But in KH2, he planned to murder Kairi just so that he could see Roxas again. And if he actually succeeded, what was gonna happen after that? Would Roxas just ignore that murder and go back to Twilight Town with him and they would eat ice cream forever? Roxas would have filed a restraining order against him. Axel didn't have much time left. In the light novel and manga, they made it more clear that Axel wanted Roxas back so they could disappear and go to the next life together. Like a suicide pact. Axel had some screws loose. I absolutely loved him for that, because I have a few screws loose, too. But KH3 whitewashed him a lot and he felt like a caricature at times.

That's what I expected, too. I think that could still be shown at some point even if now we have some random female character shoved into the picture to divert attention from Saix's over-strong feelings towards Axel (and by extension Roxas and Xion) in the games leading up to 3.

It is technically still possible, but I doubt it will happen. The "payoff" for Axel and Saix's backstory would have been KH3. And that ship has sailed. But hey, Xehanort is only getting his backstory now and the same was true of him. I would LOVE if it happened.

And I completely agree that the random female character felt like she was meant to distract from Saix's suspiciously strong feelings toward Axel. I am homosexual, so that actually got under my skin quite a bit. This was just my interpretation of course, but I read Axel and Saix as gay. I think Axel had a lot of unresolved baggage with Saix that KH3 was very eager to dismiss because it may have been a little "too gay".
 

Chie

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They "gave themselves over to darkness" when they became Nobodies. "But Lea isn't a Nobody anymore." Yes, but... Nobodies weren't actually different than people after all, so it wasn't a physical state that let them do this.
 

okhi12

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They "gave themselves over to darkness" when they became Nobodies. "But Lea isn't a Nobody anymore." Yes, but... Nobodies weren't actually different than people after all, so it wasn't a physical state that let them do this.
You know, it was more like a heart state. The darkness can potentially corrupt people's hearts when exposed to it through dark corridors, and the risk increases if it's done repeatedly. Black coats protect against the darkness so Riku and Mickey wore them for some time after they left Castle Oblivion. Lea also kept his during DDD and KH3. Keyblade armor protects in a similar way when crossing the lanes between, and Yen Sid also gave Sora, Riku, Kairi and Mickey special clothes wich ward off against the darkness. Lea too, but he decided to keep the black coat.

Nobodies lack hearts, which in theory makes them able to safely overuse the corridors... but then Xemnas revealed nobodies can grow hearts over time if they have the chance. I think he was implying not all of them grew hearts and he was trying to prevent them from doing so by lying to them (I'm not sure if this is actually confirmed).

That whole revelation was a bit contradicting to the established lore, but maybe burgeoning but still underdeveloped hearts are less susceptible to the darkness than fully grown hearts, or maybe that's why Organization XIII still wore black coats despite ''not having hearts''.
The easy explanation is Nomura didn't think about everything in advance, but the hints about nobodies having feelings/hearts were already there since Chain of Memories and KH2, though.

Anyway, strength of heart and proficient skills with darkness seem to allow complete people the use of dark corridors without protection. Master Xehanort did it all the time.
Riku may have lost the ability to open corridors when Ansem's heart-encoding device exploded, but Lea still being able to do so was no surprise at all.
 
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MoonRabbit

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Ienzo: There’s no place that he could go now that he’s human. He has no means of leaving this world.

Mickey: The dark corridors--

Ienzo: Are beyond his faculties and mine now.

Hmmm. I dunno. I always thought that opening the dark corridors was connected to the actual physical state of being a Nobody. In KH3, Ienzo implied that the rest of the apprentices lost the ability to open the corridors as soon as they became human again.

The other way is to use a 'corridor of darkness'. These routes are like a loophole of sorts and not pathways that should rightfully be used. While only those known as beings of darkness and beings of between are able to create entries and exits, in rare cases even other kinds of beings such as the Beast and DiZ, who held strong sentiment or hatred in their hearts, have been able to open a path themselves.

And this is consistent with what Nomura said in the "Director's Secret Report." Beings of darkness and beings of between can create the portals. Namine opened the path when Riku lost his ability to. She was purehearted, but her physical state was still a between being. But a normal realm of light being like DiZ or Beast is rare.

Is he still able to pass through the Corridors of Darkness like before?
Diz is also human and can pass through the Corridors of Darkness. Since Lea has the memories of being Axel, he saw the message Ansem wrote on the wall in Radiant Garden and thought that was the only way he could travel. Of course, using the Corridors frequently is dangerous.

Nomura was even asked why Lea could open the corridors in KH3D, and he compared him to DiZ, and we know DiZ was consumed with anger and hatred. The way I saw it back in 2012 was that, Lea still had a lot of darkness in his heart when he became human again to even be able to open the corridors in the first place. I just think KH3 really whitewashed him and his past.
 

SweetYetSalty

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Well, that was my problem with KH3 Axel. He was NOT actually carefree in Days or KH2. Like, at all. That was the mask he wore when he was hanging out with Roxas and Xion, to protect their innocence. But he was hiding a lot of demons from them. He felt ashamed when he first saw Xion's face because not long before, he was happily going to murder Namine without a second thought. Axel himself admitted that he was "more broken" than Xion. He was an assassin. Xaldin was confused why he wouldn't eliminate Roxas because he had ruthlessly eliminated so many people before. Axel asked Roxas to meet him again in the next life. And he said "just because you have a next life". He didn't think he was gonna get a next life, because he saw himself as a bad person.

I don't think him befriending Roxas was part of his demons. But in KH2, he planned to murder Kairi just so that he could see Roxas again. And if he actually succeeded, what was gonna happen after that? Would Roxas just ignore that murder and go back to Twilight Town with him and they would eat ice cream forever? Roxas would have filed a restraining order against him. Axel didn't have much time left. In the light novel and manga, they made it more clear that Axel wanted Roxas back so they could disappear and go to the next life together. Like a suicide pact. Axel had some screws loose. I absolutely loved him for that, because I have a few screws loose, too. But KH3 whitewashed him a lot and he felt like a caricature at times.
I'm almost certain he was not going to murder Kairi. He was trying to kidnap her to lure out Sora to turn him into a Heartless. It's still a evil thing to do and I feel he gets a free pass on it due to his popularity when we should address it more. Likewise I never saw him wanting to go suicide with Roxas. They wanted to live. Why would he want to bring Roxas back just to suicide with him? That makes no logical sense. I have more to say on this Lea/Axel topic, but I feel it's getting off topic and deserves it's own thread to really discuss it. As this is suppose to be about Xigbar.

But back to Xigbar, one thing I saw brought up above is about having a strong heart to gain a Keyblade and produce a Nobody and a humanoid one at that. While Xigbar poses both these qualities I feel the whole "strong heart" thing is used inconsistently in the series.

What is a "strong heart" in Kingdom Hearts? And what determines who has one or not? A Keyblade? Having a Nobody? We know darkness doesn't affect a strong hearts because Xehanort and all his lackies. So what qualities makes a heart strong and worthy, I'm just curious at this point.
 

MoonRabbit

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I'm almost certain he was not going to murder Kairi. He was trying to kidnap her to lure out Sora to turn him into a Heartless. It's still a evil thing to do and I feel he gets a free pass on it due to his popularity when we should address it more.
I agree it deserves its own topic, so this will probably the last I say on the matter. But I completely disagree that Axel never intended to kill Kairi. The way he spoke and held out his hand to her indicated he had very dark intentions. In the manga, it is especially clear. Kairi says, "You didn't have to kidnap me." And he gives an evil smirk and goes, "Good point." Axel was not capable of it in the end, but I think he kidnapped her with every intention of killing her. He is no stranger to killing. He killed Vexen as he begged for mercy. But that's kinda what I mean by him getting whitewashed. Due to his popularity, he was portrayed as more of a carefree and lighthearted "Mr. Nice Guy" than he actually was.
Likewise I never saw him wanting to go suicide with Roxas. They wanted to live. Why would he want to bring Roxas back just to suicide with him? That makes no logical sense.

This is something that is explained better in both the manga and the novel. You could argue that neither or those count, and they are merely the interpretations of Kanemaki and Amano. But I don't think they would have been able to put it in unless Nomura approved it. Axel was a wanted man and his days were numbered. He was afraid to disappear because he didn't think he had a heart. Nobodies "don't exist". Without a heart, he thought he'd completely cease to exist.

Axel: You know, I've been thinking about something Naminé said. Roxas...are you really sure that you don't have a heart? Is it possible that we all have one? You, me, her... Or is that just wishful thinking?

Axel suspected that Roxas had a heart and would "go somewhere" when he disappeared. And Roxas made him feel like he had a heart. He wanted to see Roxas again to confirm to himself that he did have a heart, and he'd actually go somewhere when he faded away. He didn't want to go to the afterlife alone. Like I said, he was a pretty screwed up guy who always came across like his past was extremely traumatic.

What is a "strong heart" in Kingdom Hearts? And what determines who has one or not? A Keyblade? Having a Nobody? We know darkness doesn't affect a strong hearts because Xehanort and all his lackies. So what qualities makes a heart strong and worthy, I'm just curious at this point.

I think it just means your connections to others. Even a guy as evil as Xehanort had a strong connection to Eraqus. I don't think Braig had anything like that. He was a good counterpoint to all the heroes like Sora and Riku.
 

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He still is. I think Xigbar is soured on the concept of "my friends are my power" precisely because of his past as Luxu, as well as observing the entirety of keyblade society post-MoM. I don't think he's even wrong to think this.
“I don't admire one guy leaping into danger if it means someone else might have to jump in to save him. You’re all just lining up to lose out. Dooming others to take the fall with ya.”
How much of my true intent is getting through to you? If it doesn’t reach you at all, I’ve got a problem, but come on, you could at least take some of it to heart. These kids and their heart-guided Keyblades. I’ve seen more than enough of you go down the path of self-sacrifice and it never ends well.
“Oh, and you can spare me the usual party line. Yes, hearts are powerful when they’re connected. But if you put too much of that power in one place, some of those hearts might end up breaking."
MoM: "May your heart be your guiding key". (which is also known to be the foundation of even modern keyblade society, since Yen Sid says it)
Xigbar, after years of following MoM's plan perfectly out of loyalty: "Aren't hearts great? Steer us wrong every time."
 

MoonRabbit

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He still is. I think Xigbar is soured on the concept of "my friends are my power" precisely because of his past as Luxu, as well as observing the entirety of keyblade society post-MoM. I don't think he's even wrong to think this.

MoM: "May your heart be your guiding key". (which is also known to be the foundation of even modern keyblade society, since Yen Sid says it)
Xigbar, after years of following MoM's plan perfectly out of loyalty: "Aren't hearts great? Steer us wrong every time."
It's just very hard, if not impossible, for me to retroactively see Xigbar as Luxu. It felt like the story wrote Xigbar as one very specific character, which was a power-hungry lowlife. And somewhere very late into the game, Nomura changed his mind. IMO, there was not enough foreshadowing for that twist, and I was left very confused by it. On the other hand, it felt very believable that Xigbar's arc would lead him to take his own life at the end of KH3 and I felt there was significant foreshadowing for this ending. I believe that the suicide ending was written looooong in advance, and the Luxu thing came muuuuuch later.

Day 117: Him and Roxas

Roxas is maturing at an impressive rate. His face, the way he handles the Keyblade, it's all exactly the same. The worlds seem so divided and alone, but there's always that steady thread there to connect them. And we Nobodies can never escape the things we did as humans. So it goes.

Now, at first, you'd think he was referring to Sora here, but after learning more about him, you realize he is probably referring to Ventus. He says that even as a Nobody, you can never escape the things you did as a human. The image of Ventus glaring at him haunts his memories.

Crime and Punishment follows the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in Saint Petersburg who plans to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money. Before the killing, Raskolnikov believes that with the money he could liberate himself from poverty and go on to perform great deeds. However, once it is done he finds himself racked with confusion, paranoia, and disgust for his actions. His justifications disintegrate completely as he struggles with guilt and horror and confronts the real-world consequences of his deed.

One of his weapons in Days was named "Crime and Punishment," which was very telling for me. Because that was exactly how I interpreted Xigbar. I think a part of him was horrified and disgusted with himself, and it made sense that Ventus kept haunting him because that really was the first time getting his hands dirty.

Xigbar: And at the end, you’ll finally realize what destiny has in store for you. In fact, your reward might be right around the corner. You’re so close!

Before meeting the old coot, he was just an ordinary castle guard living in a peaceful paradise. Then he sold his soul to the devil and wound up getting his "reward". And it's just a shame to me that this character...no longer exists? I don't see why Ventus's angry face would haunt someone like Luxu so much, considering he'd already done FAR worse by that point.
 
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