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is a fictional character in the video game Kingdom Hearts series and is the main villain of the series. Out of ignorance born of deception, he is referred to as in Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories. Xehanort is voiced by Richard Epcar in the English version of Kingdom Hearts II, and by Akio Otsuka in the Japanese version. His Heartless that he became is voiced by Billy Zane in the English versions of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, by Richard Epcar in the English version of Kingdom Hearts II, and by Akio Otsuka in the Japanese versions of the games. His Nobody is voiced by Paul St. Peter in the English version of Kingdom Hearts II and by Norio Wakamoto in the Japanese version. Xehanort is an anagram of no heart or another with an X added, similar to the names of Organization XIII's members.
Background story
A mysterious castaway that wound up at Radiant Garden, Xehanort was near death and possessed no memory of his life before. The ruler of Radiant Garden, Ansem the Wise, rescued and cared for him. Even though Xehanort had no memories, he had an innate desire for knowledge and learned at a surprising rate. Meanwhile, Ansem the Wise started to begin worrying over the danger of darkness in people's hearts and decided he would start experiments on the human heart in order to prevent disaster.
Xehanort, loyal to Ansem the Wise, agreed to be a test subject for Ansem the Wise's experiments, in the hopes that he would recover his memory. Ansem the Wise's five other students were involved in carrying out the experiments: Even, Ienzo, Braig, Dilan and Elaeus. During this experiment, Ansem the Wise noticed that Xehanort had "extraordinary", maybe even abnormal, abilities. The other students also experimented on Xehanort, hoping to help him get his memories back. Eventually, Ansem the Wise realized that he should not meddle with human hearts and stopped the experiments, but Xehanort continued in secret along with the other assistants. Taking on the name of "Ansem", Xehanort with the others began inhumane experiments testing on countless human hearts. This resulted in Xehanort's discovery of the creatures which he named the "Heartless", and began to study. He wrote down his findings and ideas in the Ansem Reports, entries 2 to 13 (1 to 12 in the Japanese version), to continue the first Ansem Report that Ansem the Wise wrote himself.
Through his study of Heartless, Xehanort found his way into the deepest part of Radiant Garden and found a mysterious door. He opened it and behind it he discovered a huge mass of energy and hypothesized that it was the "heart" of Radiant Garden; the heart of the world. Ansem the Wise later questions in his own written reports why Xehanort had the ability to open this mysterious door, but does not discuss the matter further. That night there was a meteor shower and Xehanort believed that opening the door broke down the walls between the worlds. Continuing his experiment, he came to create a machine that was able to spawn Heartless. In order to differentiate from the "Pureblood" Heartless, he branded an emblem on the artificially created ones and named those "Emblems".
His curiosity magnified when the otherworlder King Mickey arrived to Radiant Garden. Xehanort believed that when he opened the door, he also allowed the possibility of interworld travel. From King Mickey, he learned about the "Keyblade". The Keyblade locks the hearts of worlds, and since this was not in best interest to Xehanort he decided to go on a journey in order to stop this Keyblade master. Along this time, Ansem the Wise discovered that his disciples betrayed him and somehow was banished to the realm of nothingness by them. There, Ansem the Wise takes the name of DiZ. Newfound knowledge of the Keyblade led Xehanort to send Kairi, a Princess of Heart, away in order to test his hypothesis that the Keyblade master and the Princesses of Heart are connected and in hopes that he would find this Keyblade master.
Finally, Xehanort cast away his body and stepped deeper into the darkness in order to find the truth about the heart, darkness and, eventually, Kingdom Hearts. Xehanort's abandoned body became the Nobody Xemnas, leader of Organization XIII whose other senior members included the Nobodies of the other assistants after they lost their hearts. Xehanort's heart then became a Heartless. Unlike other Heartless, his Heartless retained a human form and also his memories.
Xehanort's Heartless sought out Kingdom Hearts while Xemnas desired to expand Kingdom Hearts's power. While Xehnanort's Heartless wanted to release the darkness within Kingdom Hearts to obtain the knowledge he had sought, Xemnas desired ultimate power and to become a complete entity once more.
Kingdom Hearts
Xehanort's Heartless was the main antagonist of Kingdom Hearts. He first appears at the beginning of the game as a cloaked figure on the Destiny Islands, to see the door to that world and to taunt Sora, telling him that he understands nothing, the day before the Heartless appear. He appears again during the game in Hollow Bastion (Radiant Garden) as the cloaked figure once more, except this time he speaks to Riku. He fools Riku into giving up his body and gains control of it. Now with almost complete control of Riku's body, Xehanort's Heartless tried to awaken Kairi, the final Princess of Heart, in order to open the Final Keyhole to Kingdom Hearts.
Once the path opens, he disappears into it and appears in the final world, End of the World. During this time, he removes Riku's heart from his body to achieve total control over his "new body" as he proceeds to find Kingdom Hearts while collecting all the worlds' hearts to call forth the source of all darkness in order to obtain the knowledge he had sought.
Meanwhile, Xemnas seeks out Sora at Hollow Bastion. After giving cryptic remarks relating to his identity and Roxas, Sora's Nobody, Xemnas battles Sora to see if he is useful in the long run. Sora passes the test, and Xemnas leaves more cryptic remarks as he vanishes.
At End of the World, Sora, Donald, and Goofy confront Xehanort's Heartless while he had the opportunity to achieve his ultimate goal at the remains of what used to be the Destiny Islands. Xehanort's Heartless fights the trio. Defeated, he opens a giant hole in the island and confronts Sora alone before bonding onto the World of Chaos , a living Heartless ship, and revealing the door to Kingdom Hearts. Despite his efforts, World of Chaos is defeated and he barely escapes alive. He succeeded in forcing Kingdom Hearts to open. But from it comes a blinding light that envelops and destroys him; in an ironic twist, Xehanort's Heartless dies, questioning why there was light in the darkness.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
In Chain of Memories, Xehanort's Heartless makes a final stand to take control of Riku, who has awakened from a realm of darkness and entered Castle Oblivion, where his resolve to find Sora is questioned as he fights to determine the nature of himself and his heart.
It is revealed that what remained of Xehanort's Heartless lay within Riku. If Riku is not careful, he would succumb to the darkness within him and allow Xehanort's Heartless to take control of him again. Zexion realizes that Riku shares a scent similar to the "Superior" (Xemnas) and, along with Lexaeus, attempts to take control of the boy. Attempts to drown him in darkness and then overwhelm him with light both fail, in part because of King Mickey, who has become Riku's guiding light and companion, and Naminé, a witch who shadows Kairi's appearance, to give him hope. Naminé offers to lock away Xehanort's Heartless, but Riku refuses because he believes that he must face his fears and confront them head on rather than run.
While Xehanort's Heartless attempted to take control of Riku again, he takes on a corporeal form within Castle Oblivion. He is defeated, though as Riku reveals, his darkness still lingers inside his heart. Riku and King Mickey leave the fortress with the intention of ensuring all traces of Xehanort are eliminated. Though he wasn't present, Xemnas was referenced by the members of the Organization.
Kingdom Hearts II
Xemnas, Xehanort's Nobody, is the main antagonist of Kingdom Hearts II.
Xemnas is first seen in Kingdom Hearts II during the beginning on a beach, telling Roxas of his encounter with Sora, and remarked on Sora's resemblance to the boy. He also asks Roxas if he wants to meet Sora. It is not until later in the game when the player finds out Xemnas's reasoning for this question: If Xemnas was to expand Kingdom Hearts, he would need the Keyblade to defeat the Heartless and return their captive hearts back to Kingdom Hearts, but could not achieve this goal unless Sora was awakened and complete, by combining with his Nobody, Roxas. Later on, he appears in front of Sora at Hollow Bastion to summon his fellow members and taunt him, and then later at Hollow Bastion again when the enormous Heartless army attacked it.
Sora learns of "Ansem's" true nature when Mickey states that the Ansem he met was entirely different from the one who menaced the worlds. However, Mickey was unable to remember the true name of the impostor until he saw Xemnas.
While Xemnas escapes with Mickey in pursuit, Sora confronts him again in The World That Never Was when DiZ attempts to contain Kingdom Hearts's power. Xemnas reveals that he is trying to build a new empire, one heart at a time, and he thanks his former master for this. As he referred to DiZ as the source of all Heartless, he stated that because of his former master, that not only is Xemnas's plan being fullfilled because of DiZ's vain attempts of vengeance, but DiZ was also the reason for Xehanort's descent into darkness. DiZ's machine explodes, killing him & leaving a huge hole in Kingdom Hearts; many of the hearts in Kingdom Hearts rain down and became Heartless, hindering Xemnas's plans. Regardless, Xemnas uses what was left of Kingdom Hearts's power, taking on a new form to fight Sora and company. Though he was thought to be defeated, Xemnas managed to separate Sora and Riku from the others to fight them personally. Xemnas's death at the hands of Sora and Riku marked the end of Organization XIII and Xehanort's complete demise.
Computer and video game villains | Kingdom Hearts villains | Fictional evil scientists
"Xehanort"