Xehanort

Xehanort was originally conceptualized as a one-game only villain by Tetsuya Nomura for the video game Kingdom Hearts. However, when Square Enix got the approval to make the sequel Kingdom Hearts II, Nomura then had put together and decided an outline. He was often told by the manga artist that they felt "the characters come alive however they want," and some parts did change from their original conceptualization, but in the grand scheme of things not much changed to the character.

The biggest change to Xehanort's character in Kingdom Hearts II is how doppelganger, the Heartless Ansem Seeker of Darkness, was revised to feel more like an imposter of the real Ansem the Wise, based on more villain-like traits.[2] Kingdom Hearts II also features another Xehanort doppelganger, the Nobody Xemnas, leader of Organization XIII. The concept of Organization XIII began with Xemnas as the first member and Roxas, Sora's Nobody as the last. Each of the original members' name is an anagram of their original name prior to becoming a Nobody, with the addition of the letter "X" which is revealed in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep to be derived from the χ-blade.

The members are depicted to wear black hooded coats that shield them from the corrosive effect of prolonged use of the Corridors of Darkness, portals they use to traverse various worlds.[3] Following the release of the Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Nomura revealed a connection cameo characters and Xemnas, but wanted to leave it up to people's imagination as he still could not reveal their identities. This was done through the fight sequence between Sora's predecessors against the unnamed elder, later revealed as Master Xehanort, and his apprentice Vanitas.[4]

Nomura explained, Master Xehanort wishes to bring back the Keyblade War and see what happens afterward with his own eyes, but once he found a way to accomplish this he was already an old man with only a few years left to him. Wishing to become young again, he finds Terra, and defeats him with darkness so he can take his body. That is the Xehanort that Ansem the Wise picks up, and makes his number one apprentice. In response to rumors saying that Sora's story would end in Kingdom Hearts III, Nomura answered that Sora is the protagonist of the series and that instead Xehanort's arc would end in such title.[5] In retrospect, Nomura has said it was difficult to enjoy Sora's side of the story and instead like Xehanort's character when making the narrative.[6]

Casting

Akio Otsuka often voices Xehanort and Ansem in Japanese, taking the elder Xehanort one following his father's death.

Billy Zane voiced Ansem but only in the first game, being replaced by Richard Epcar for the next titles. Reflecting on his work, Epcar enjoyed his works in the Kingdom Hearts franchise due to all the people he met during his career.[7] Xemnas was instead voiced by Norio Wakamoto in Japanese and Paul St. Peter in English. Peter felt that the quick audition left to positive response by staff. He came to enjoy voicing Xemnas alongside Wormmon from Digimon Adventure 02. He still found the role challenging as he had to work as carefully as Wakamoto.[8]

For the eventual release of Birth by Sleep, Ryōtarō Okiayu was chosen as Terra's Japanese voice actor as the staff wanted an actor who sounded similar to Chikao Ōtsuka, Xehanort's original voice actor, and Akio Ōtsuka, Xehanort's current voice actor who also voiced the villain while using Terra's body. The staff found Chikao's was a dry sort of voice, Akio's a deep, resonating sort of voice, and liked how Okiayu bore elements from both actors. This eventually led to the possession of Terra's body in the prequel by Xehanort and how they would become the villains from the main games. Nomura claims there was a hidden message in Xehanort's last lines when he hints there is somebody else in Terra's heart. Master Xehanort was dubbed by Leonard Nimoy in Birth by Sleep and 3D,[9] Rutger Hauer in Kingdom Hearts III, and Christopher Lloyd in the DLC. Chikao Ōtsuka died during development of Kingdom Hears III. While Square were compiling Ansem's voice, in the same scene they could hear Master Xehanort's line. At the time, no substitute voice actor had been chosen, so the staff thought that maybe some line they had recorded previously was playing, but it turned out that Akio Otsuka, the voice actor for Ansem that took Xehanort's identity, was playing the part right there at that time. The staff, surprised by how uncomfortable they felt, decided to ask him to play the role.[10]

Meanwhile, the youthful Xehanort from was voiced by Takanori Okuda and Benjamin Diskin. Diskin commented he had to managed his pitch to sound as young as Okuda. As a result, Diskin was afraid about his performance due to how the early trailers of Kingdom Hearts III would be received. Diskin had played the numbered titles of the franchise and thus had little knowledge about his character since Xehanort's identity was also explored in other non-numbered games. Throughout the recording of Kingdom Hearts 3D, no one told him what his character was going through, or what his motivations were. As a result, the actor had little to no understanding about the narrative of the game.[11]

Xehanort is further re-established as an elderly Keyblade Master from the Destiny Islands who acquired the means to transplant his heart into the bodies of others, which he uses to orchestrate the events of the games up to Kingdom Hearts III to suit his agenda. Throughout the series, Xehanort is driven by an obsessive interest in the Keyblade War, a historic cataclysm that resulted in the universe's present, fragmented state.[12] In Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, he attempts to use the hearts of his pupils Ventus and Vanitas to forge the χ-blade and unlock Kingdom Hearts to incite another war, desiring to create a new world where light and darkness exist in perfect balance.[13][14] He also transfers his heart into Terra's body, prolonging his own life.[15] However, he is defeated through the combined efforts of Ventus, Terra and Aqua, sustaining amnesia in the process.[16] In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Xehanort returns to his original form following the destruction of Ansem and Xemnas, who are revealed to have been created to re-enact his original plan by gathering seven "guardians of light" and thirteen "seekers of darkness" in the form of the Princesses of Heart and Organization XIII, respectively; he also uses time travel to assemble Ansem, Xemnas, and other versions of himself from across time into a new Organization, sending their hearts into replica bodies to co-exist with their present self.[17] In Kingdom Hearts III, where he is defeated and his past selves are eliminated during a showdown against Sora's group, Xehanort surrenders and allows his heart to pass on together with his former friend Eraqus.[18] In Kingdom Hearts Union χ, he is revealed to be the player character reincarnated.

• Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (闇の探求者アンセム, Yami no Tankyūsha Ansemu), Xehanort's Heartless and the main antagonist of the first Kingdom Hearts. He uses Maleficent to gather the Princesses of Heart and produce the Keyhole to Kingdom Hearts, later possessing Riku's body to regain his human appearance; as revealed in Dream Drop Distance, his incorporeal form allows him to travel to the past to initiate Xehanort's teenage self.[19][17] Following Ansem's destruction, his presence continues to linger within Riku's heart in Chain of Memories until it is destroyed by Ansem the Wise's malfunctioning heart encoder in Kingdom Hearts II.
• Xemnas, Xehanort's Nobody and the main antagonist of Kingdom Hearts II. He is the founder and "superior" of the first Organization XIII, whom he manipulates into constructing an artificial Kingdom Hearts to turn them into vessels for Xehanort's heart, as revealed in Dream Drop Distance. His name is an anagram of "Ansem" with an additional letter "X".
• Terra-Xehanort, the original form of Ansem and Xemnas who was first seen as Ansem the Wise's amnesiac apprentice.[16] He is created in Birth by Sleep where Xehanort's heart is transferred into Terra's body while confining Terra's heart within a monstrous vessel called the Dark Figure (うしろの人, Ushiro ni Jin, lit. "The One Behind).[15] Despite being an amnesiac, he steals his mentor's identity while conducting his experiments involving Heartless and Nobodies.[20] In Kingdom Hearts III, Terra's heart takes control of the Dark Figure and returns to its body with Sora's help, expelling Xehanort's heart.
• Young Xehanort, Xehanort's adolescent self and the primary antagonist of Dream Drop Distance, whom the Heartless Ansem summons from the past to assemble the "real" Organization XIII from his other incarnations and certain member of the previous Organization.[17] Though he loses his memories upon returning to his time, he remains motivated by the destiny "etched in [his] heart" to carry out all of his future self's plans.[21]

The performances of Leonard Nimoy (left), Rutger Hauer (mid) and Christopher Lloyd (right) were praised by the media.

For Xehanort's debut in the series, USGamer praised his role for giving the narrative a major impact as he takes over the role of the Disney villains, corrupts and possesses Riku's body. The scene is also noted to expand the series' lore little by little not only through Riku's actions but also because it explores the ruined Hollow Bastion which is a former lively place now ruled by Xehanort.[22] GamesRadar enjoyed the final boss fight from the game as Ansem pilots a ship composed of Heartless against Sora's group but mocked Nomura's design calling it a mix between Final Fantasy VII villain Sephiroth and Fabio while finding his fate unexplained as he disappears when Kingdom Hearts is opened and his vessel, Riku, is trapped on the other side. The site noted Ansem still manages to further corrupt Riku, labeling his resulting personality as an "emo" who is unwilling to reunite with Sora. Meanwhile, Xemnas' handling in Kingdom Hearts II was called predictable as the now united Sora and Riku manage to destroy him alongside his lands. This led to more criticism as Ansem's and Xemnas' destructions lead to the return of the original Xehanort, making the heroes' action meaningless.[23] Comic Book Resources still enjoyed Riku's handling of Ansem's powers as he manages to use them to overcome his inner darkness in both Chain of Memories and Dream Drop Distance. The same was said with how Riku once again used Ansem's power for justice in Kingdom Hearts II and 358/2 Days to defeat Roxas and help in Sora's awakening in the former game as Roxas was needed to awake the comatose teenager. The same site also listed Sora's and Riku's fight against Xemnas's as one of Riku's best action sequences in the entire series while also highlighting the multiple methods of attacks summoned by the Nobody.[24]

The elder Master Xehanort from Birth by Sleep was also the subject of commentary with parallels given to him and the Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars. Bob Miur from Destructoid compared Terra's storyline with the film Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and how he was the corrupted Anakin Skywaler manipulated by Xehanot in a similar fashion to Palpatine.[25] Comic Book Resources also noted multiple similarities between Xehanort and Palpatine in the same film due to how the villain corrupts the young hero to the point both lose possession of their original selves when the villain succeeds in obtaining their desires.[26] CinemaBlend praised how the prequel further explores Xehanort's character while also highlighting how he nearly succeeds in defeating all the protagonists from the game.[27] Comic Book Resources still noted that several of Xehanort's actions contribute to the heroes' downfall including not only Terra's lost body, but also how he manipulates the young Ventus, the eventual corruption of Aqua and how he would betray his mentor Ansem the Wise during the True Ending.[28] Another aspect of Birth by Sleep touched by website 3DJuegos was relationship between Xehanort and Eraqus as, despite their antagonistic relationship, their roles in Kingdom Hearts III further develops their characterization and lamented Nimoy could no longer voice him again.[29]

For Xehanort's role in Dream Drop Distance, RPGSite lamented how Disney villains are being overshadowed by him while GameInformer saw it as a prologue to Kingdom Hearts III.[30][31] Although Kingdom Hearts III focuses on Xehanort's return, Polygon commented players should also play or watch cutscenes from other games to understand more of his actions as Sora has to help more people related to him.[32] By Kingdom Hearts III, Comic Book Resources noted that Xehanort causes the biggest catastrophes in the series, citing Kairi's death and the usage of Organization XIII for his own personal needs, he still had did for his own ideals of what it was good as recognized by Eraqus' spirits.[28] The same site listed his alter egos as the sixth most challenging boss ever in the game while his true persona ranked second, only behind Yozora from the downloadable content.[33] GameSpot also enjoyed how the Remind DLC re-explores more of Xenahort's character from Kingdom Hearts III.[34] GameSpot in retrospect found Xehanort's identity confusing due to the several alter egos he created in the franchise.[35] Meristation referred to the character in general, complex and manipulative while the same time redeeming in his final moments, he accepts his defeat to Sora and gives him the X-Blade, to the youth as he moves to the afterlife with Eraqus.[36]

The English voice actors behind Xehanort were praised. Billy Zane's work as the first appearance of Xehanort (Ansem), was enjoyed by Kotaku in an article involving "cheesy video game voice acting" as the writer claimed "Zane's performance is a combination of rocky growlings and deep bass utterances" as a result of how many taunts he makes during the cutscenes, making the villain stand out.[37] CinemaBlend enjoyed Leonard Nimoy's performance in Birth by Sleep.[27] GameSpot also labeled Nimoy as having one of the best performances in Birth by Sleep.[38] Rutger Hauer's portrayal of Xehanort was also praised by Meristation who noted that Xehanort was one of the actor's final works before his death,[39] but HardcoreGamer felt he did not keep up to Nimoy's performance. Nevertheless, the works of Richard Epcar and Paul St. Peter as Xehanort's alter egos were well received by the site.[40] Christopher Lloyd's performance in the DLC was praised by The Gamer as they believe he fits the character.[41]