358/2 Days Countdown: X

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Published on September 20, 2009 @ 08:36 am

Written by Ordeith

Making his way in at the tenth spot in our Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Organization XIII countdown is the smooth-talking card player Luxord, the Gambler of Fate and number 10 in the Organization.

What We Know So Far:

First introduced to the players in Kingdom Hearts II, Luxord definitely stands apart from the other members of the Organization, with his refined British dialect, and his unique yet aggravating boss battle. Of his own volition, he keeps himself on a higher level than the other members, and regards his opponents worthy enough only to be toyed with, as can be seen throughout the party's encounters with him. He is masterfully well-versed in rhetoric, which he uses to keep himself superior and in control at all times. But at the same time, Luxord hardly wastes time with the long-winded monologues the other Organization members give, "skipping the formalities" and heading straightforwardly into combat.

In Kingdom Hearts II, Luxord was one of the many members sent to a specific world for the purpose of gathering hearts and upsetting the state of order. His destination, definitely fitting to his character, is the British colonial city of Port Royal. There, he takes advantage of the curse on the Aztec gold to wreak havoc throughout the world, gathering cursed pirates and deadly Heartless to his aid in harvesting hearts. Before Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jack Sparrow are able to end the curse, he decides to incorporate a game-of-chance element into the scenario, and uses his Gambler Nobodies to disperse four of the 882 coins to the far ends of the world. Sora and company are then forced to scour the seas for the gold medallions, in order to put a stop to the curse and the Heartless.

The party encounters Luxord only once more afterwards, in the World That Never Was. Wasting no time, he immediately ousts Donald and Goofy, leaving Sora to fight him alone. The fight is entirely ruled by time; it always ticks downwards, yet getting hit makes it go down quicker. Throughout the fight, Luxord challenges Sora to a number of tricky mini-games, each with its generous rewards for winning-and deadly consequences for losing or refusing to play. Yet in the end, Sora puzzles out the games and dispatches of Luxord, whose dying words, even, still confuse him.

His Role in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days:

From what we've seen from gameplay clips, the Gambler of Fate makes only one storyline appearance throughout the game, that being in Roxas' first visit to Wonderland, which is most likely an analogy between the card soldiers and Luxord's own cards. He and the young neophyte are forced to sneak about the world to avoid notice by the Queen of Heart's minions. It could be possible that Luxord reappears to help Roxas again, but until the game is released, we cannot say for sure. But, just as all the other members are, Luxord is a playable character who can be used in replaying missions and in wireless combat.

What the Fans Think:

Unfortunately, in spite of his smooth British charisma, Luxord is and has been among the relatively unnoticed members of the Organization; he only appears in four scenes throughout the game, and, because of his character's distaste for monologues, has no memorable speech by which fans can remember him, except for his before-battle quote, "I'd rather we just skip the formalities." Hopefully he will receive some of the recognition he deserves by the time 358/2 Days' North American release comes around.

But while he is generally ignored by most of the series' fanbase, there are still a few fans who pay homage to Luxord. Here is what forum member Angel has to say about the Gambler of Fate:

Luxord, Number 10. Aside from the lovely British accent, there's an affinity for gambling to love! He refers to several key events in the series as simple games of chance. (for example the scene in KH2FM after Axel dies: "Perhaps he gambled something he didn't have...and won?" and then proceeds to call Axel a cheater)

While Days is far from placing a bulk of the spotlight on him, it would be interesting to learn why he's the only one in the Organization where his hobby is not also his job within the group. Plus what his cards can be customized into. As a master of time, it'll be interesting to see his proficiency in using it to stop the Heartless.

As for his role in Days, I'm interested to see the capacity he takes in training and honing Roxas for the Organization's purposes, if any at all.

In short, Luxord is, by far, one of the more unique characters of the franchise, in spite of his general anonymity. With hope, we'll be able to get a deeper look into his character with the North American release (Sept. 29) and European release (Oct. 9) of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.

Until then, you can discuss Luxord, the Organization, and the new game in general on our forums.