Kingdom Hearts had something to prove when it came to the original characters. Sora, Riku, and Kairi led the series a great foot forward, but that still left original villains needing to prove themselves. Now, Riku fell to the dark side of course, and Chain of Memories showed a section of Organization XIII. But, as Riku found redemption and many players jumped into Kingdom Hearts II without knowing Chain of Memories would be important, the only original villain to leave their impression was left with Ansem the Seeker of Darkness.
A fine villain for what he was, a subject for his entry, but ultimately a plot-twist villain that is nearly spelled out should you look for the signs (i.e. reading the Ansem Reports). I’m a Kingdom Hearts 1 fan, yet it’s not a twist of my arm to say that game doesn’t have the best villain of the series. That villain is the main antagonist of Kingdom Hearts II; the Nobody Xemnas.
Xemnas led Organization XIII, a shadowy Organization even if you did play Chain of Memories on the GBA (Something I still haven’t). The threat of the Organization was left a mystery until the halfway point of KHII, leaving them to feel around as enigmatic as Yen Sid describes them. In a flash, we get their true motives and the backstory of specifically Xemnas, something that back during release was honestly a bit infamous.
To tell players that the man they defeated, was not, in fact, ever a man named Ansem. That Ansem the Wise was someone else, only the teacher of the man who would steal his name and attempt the throw the universe to darkness on a lark. Xehanort was the man you killed, his Heartless side, whom also created the Nobody Xemnas. This smug slow-talker who can’t even step out of the shadows as long as he still has Nobodies to throw at you.
And as I said, over the years I’ve grown to love Xemnas. I’ve played all the games released on console (aside from Melody of Memory), and I know Kingdom Hearts loves feeling like it’s pushing bigger punches than it really is in the writing department. KH1 and Re: Chain Of Memories have great writing, but starting in KHII, we instead saw mediocre stories that would somehow manage to have great moments anyway.
The Organization and the Nobodies are sort of this, see, the game focuses so much on telling the players that Nobodies are emotionless and non-existent beings. The authority figures of the game outright hate the Nobodies, and this hate gets passed on to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Even when I was younger I felt this was a bit mean; why should I be forced to believe people unfortunate enough to stop existing must be evil by default? Likely why this backstory would later be retconned. As for KHII itself, Xemnas’s ultimate plan was to awaken Kingdom Hearts and force the entity to grant Hearts, therefore existence, unto every surviving Member of the Organization. Genocide is the means to his end, sending Heartless to swallow the Hearts of countless, and then have those Hearts be unleashed through a Keyblade. Only done so when the Heartless in question is killed.
It’s dark when thought about, darker than it already sounds, and yet still Xemnas feels this is his only option. He doesn’t feel bad about these atrocities, as, he can’t. He’s emotionless, and not even a real being anymore. He isn’t capable of caring, and unlike his subordinates, never really tries to ape his forgotten emotions either. Xaldin mimics the psychology of a domestic manipulator, Saix loses his cool after perfectly maintaining it for dozens of gaming hours, Demyx is panicky and seems to understand fear on a real level, and going back in time with Chain of Memories shows us Larxene’s sadistic streak. But, Xemnas barely raises his voice and only speaks in terms of incorrect facts. Things he completely misunderstands, to the point where I now get the impression that Xemnas straight-up doesn’t remember what emotions were like, despite how other members ranging from Axel to Saix openly brag that they remember what emotions were like, hence the ability to copy them.
The motion Xemnas is going through though are barely one-track, even when he tries to manipulate the heroes he just points at them and tells them to gather more Hearts, lacking all the wordplay and mind games of Saix, Luxord, or Xigbar. Even when Kingdom Hearts is shattered, and he knows his dream is gone, he speaks with the exact same cadence he did when he cheered his victory. I remember him being smug when I was younger, but as an adult, he now just sounds matter-of-fact, with the facts in question being half-lies and other things he isn’t capable of understanding. Out of every Organization member, it is Xemnas who feels like someone not allowed to cry out in pain. Xemnas is unforgivable but quite understandable.
I’ve danced around it, but what exactly happens with the retcon is only a shame for Xemnas. Just think for a moment, taking in everything Xemnas is; how should a villain like Xemnas react to hearing everything he did was completely pointless, as he was growing a Heart again anyway? The retcon makes sense, as while it may spit in the fact of Yen Sid and Ansem the Wise, neither truly comes across as all-knowing (especially the latter). It’s a fact that feels right, and something that paints over every previous feeling with almost the same coat of paint anyway. You still feel bad you killed Demyx, and are less surprised Larxene was such a cretin.
Xemnas however, underwent a complete re-write that was a slap in the face to his character. Xemnas was not Xehanort nor The Seeker of Darkness, he was his own self, a bit of themselves with his own goals and needs. But Dream Drop Distance instead ushered in one of the least-liked Kingdom Hearts story ideas, especially in my book, that every game must in fact be building to the next one whether you like it or not, and especially whether it fits or not. Xemnas became nothing but another Xehanort, despite how obvious it is that there were other ways to have him react to the retcon.
Like many other Organization members, he could have just been simply horrified at the news. Stunned that he did unthinkable acts for well and truly no reason. Of course, as Xemnas was recycled as a villain for Dream Drop and KHIII, there’s even another option: just make him succumb to the sunk-cost fallacies. Xemnas spoke in incorrect facts he believed in, I see no reason he wouldn’t have heard about the retcon and simply ignored the epiphany. Just a calculated response; he had no idea it was unnecessary so he shouldn’t be held responsible. That if he felt like he needed to do it, why is everyone judging him at he did it? An obvious lie that men like Xemnas tell themselves every day. It’s why Dream Drop Xemnas is such a let-down, because it feels like nothing was done to justify fighting him again. Hey everybody, remember Xemnas? Because he’s back again and about a seventh as interesting. Another Kingdom Hearts staple.
I will say these complaints were heard, in what I think was my favorite bit of KHIII. Look, I’m not on the boat ride claiming it was actually a good game this whole time. It’s bloated and somehow just as rushed as it is padded, but as I said before, ever since KHII this series managed to stick mediocre scripts with stellar sections. And Xemnas’s death is maybe its most stellar.
Sora politely asks his foe how he really feels. Puts it together that someone who put his co-workers into the slaughter only because he wasn’t allowed to process the emotional discourse, is very likely suddenly full of guilt now that emotions have come back to them. And Xemnas, admits it. His lackluster cadence manages to shrivel, making something, sorrowful. KHIII’s main villains, all of whom overstayed their welcome, range from patting Sora on the back for killing them or just gloating that they will always be evil anyway. Xemnas is the one who comes to realize just how much of a monster he is, just how much blood is on his hands just because he did not think to stop. While the other villains see Sora as an annoyance or as an equal when he defeats them, it’s Xemnas who fully understands why Sora is the better man. His call out that having feelings and embracing them must make you unfathomably strong, sounds so perfect as a closure to everything about his character.
A villain like Xemnas only comes when a writing team truly believes they are saying something. I think that’s why he’s one of the many highlights of KHII, and one of the few highlights of KHIII. When he’s the epitome of Nothingness, how seeking for existence without a care who gets hurt, he’s a stand-out villain you both enjoy defeating and wish you could talk down. He’s not a good Xehanort, but why did he ever need to be? Nothingness and yet layered after all.
If you enjoyed my writing here then I suggest you take a look at my Ko-Fi store page, as I am currently selling full books and short plays for 10 dollars and under.
For further information on my doing and whereabouts, you can access my Linktree.