358/2 Days Countdown: VI

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Published on September 24, 2009 @ 02:44 pm

Written by Raz

Howdy, folks!

There is less than a week left until the release of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days! Do you know what that means? We've finally reached the original apprentices portion of our countdown! We make our beginning with number VI--Zexion.

What We Know So Far:
Zexion was one of the basement members at Castle Oblivion, featured in the Reverse/Rebirth segment of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Rather than dirtying his own hands, the Cloaked Schemer works from the shadows--sending others to perform menial tasks for him. Zexion prefers brain over brawn, and even went without a boss fight until Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories came along. He is the second youngest member in Organization XIII.

Zexion's uncanny sense of smell picked up on Riku's scent immediately. Well aware of Marluxia's plot to control Sora using Naminé, the ever calculating Zexion concocted his own plan to use Riku. Marluxia's defeat made Riku nothing more than a nuisance that had to be eliminated. When urged to take down the boy by force, violet haired Nobody responded by saying, "You know that's not how I do things..."

Using the Destiny Islands card as bait, Zexion lured Riku into a psychological mind game. He used the power of illusion to disguise himself as Sora, taunting Riku by making him think that his best friend hated him for what he had become. Riku would have been lost forever had it not been for Naminé, posing as Kairi, convincing the fifteen year old that he needed both the light and the dark. Riku broke free from Zexion's illusion bringing them both back to reality. In battle, he used his Lexicon to imitate the Soul Eater's attacks, but Riku came out victorious. The clever Nobody barely escaped with his life.

Shortly after the battle, Axel and the Riku Replica ambushed Zexion. Convinced that the only way he could be different from the real Riku was to absorb Zexion, Repliku attacked. Zexion's cunning was his undoing. "So sorry, Zexion, but you just found out way too much."

His Role in 358/2 Days:
Like the other Organization members from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Zexion seems to have a limited appearance in in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. He's only been seen on one mission with Roxas in Twilight Town. Being one of the more mysterious members, many fans are hoping for a few questions to be answered. What is Ienzo's back-story? Why was his weapon considered a spoiler? What is the purpose of Castle Oblivion?

He fights using a mastery over the power of illusion. His lexicon serves well for powerful mid-air combos. Perhaps the secrets within the book will be revealed? Either way, Zexion looks to be lots of fun to play as!

What the Fans Think:
Most fans enjoy Zexion's conniving ways. His evasive tactics made him the longest surviving member of the Castle Oblivion massacre (besides Axel, of course). Most would agree that Zexion was a missed opportunity--it would have been great to see such an interesting character interact with the other members.

His unique hairstyle has resulted in many people labeling him as an ‘emo'--and it is true that the Cloaked Schemer is not very forthcoming with his emotions. Zexy fan extraordinaire, Lifes.Lover, has this to say:

From the time Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories first came out and to when it's PS2 remake was released, Zexion has been labeled an emo, a bookworm, and other such terms by the fans of the game. But what little we see of Zexion doesn't actually perpetuate these labels.

Zexion is an enigma. When we first see him, he's contemplative, and quiet. But he doesn't stay that way for long. In fact, he's quite talkative. Probably his most memorable line is, 'What? I don't get a hello?' which shows that he's even able to joke around a little bit.

It's definitely seen that there is more to Zexion than meets the eye. That's what interests me the most. Zexion's Somebody, Ienzo, was the youngest apprentice Ansem the Wise had. That means that Zexion is extremely smart. The fact that he was so much younger than any of the other apprentices probably influenced Ienzo's actions. After all, Ienzo was the one to convince Ansem the Wise to continue on with his research on hearts and to build the laboratory and it's purported that Ienzo was Ansem the Wise's favorite apprentice.

Zexion is cunning, sly, and manipulative. Completely loyal to the Organization, it puzzles many as to why Axel caused his death, since he couldn't be called a traitor by any means. He doesn't show much emotion, but what he does have shows a multi-faceted personality, one that most fans don't give him much credit for. This is most likely because most fans haven't actually played all the way through Riku's story, and thus haven't seen Zexion's side of Chain of Memories. I'm hoping that we'll be able to see more of Zexion's personality in the time that he's around in 358/2 Days, before his death at Castle Oblivion.

Conclusion:
The release of 358/2 Days will hopefully provide more insight on the mysterious Zexion. Can't wait to get a chance to play as number VI? Buy Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days on September 29th in the USA, and on October 9th in Europe.

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