Xigbar

Xigbar, the Freeshooter (魔弾の射手), is the Nobody of Braig, Rank II within the original Organization XIII and a member of the True Organization XIII. He is a supporting antagonist in Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. Xigbar has power over space, and he uses this to freely redirect the projectiles fired from his twin Arrowguns, as well as to alter the battlefield. He commands the Sniper Nobodies.

In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Xigbar is featured as a playable character in Mission Mode. In an interview, Tetsuya Nomura said that "Xigbar's attacks have a high range, but he has slow reloading time." He also said Xigbar is his favorite character to play as in Mission Mode.

Between Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Xigbar was formed when his original persona, Braig, and the other five apprentices dabbled too deep into darkness through their continued experiments. Braig found Even and Ienzo lying lifelessly on the ground inside Ansem's computer room, and he was surprised by Xehanort, who summoned Master Xehanort's Keyblade and proceeded to stab him in the chest, extracting his heart. In his last moments, Braig asked if the man before him truly was the Master Xehanort he knew, only to be scoffed at, as his attacker preferred to be called "Ansem." Although his heart would go on to become a Heartless, Braig's strong will enabled his body to continue existing as the Nobody Xigbar. The Nobodies of the six apprentices formed Organization XIII, and they banished Ansem the Wise to the Realm of Darkness. Because of his original self's strong ties to Master Xehanort, Xigbar was aware of the true purpose of Organization XIII.

Xigbar, along with Xaldin, was the member who found and brought Marluxia into the Organization. After his return to the Castle That Never Was, he comes across Zexion and expresses his knowledge of the events of Keyblade warriors that appeared before they found Xehanort. He also talks about his eavesdropping on Xemnas during his visits to the Chamber of Repose, and how he seems to be conversing with someone that isn't really there.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Present when Xion joins the Organization, Xigbar is shocked when Demyx reveals the eliminations that took place at Castle Oblivion. Later joining Roxas on a recon mission to Agrabah, they overhear Aladdin and Jasmine discussing the rebuilding of their city after many sandstorms strike. Xigbar later challenges Roxas at Olympus Coliseum when he first enters the Games, claiming to "care about his future." The fight is cut short when the Guard Armor appears. During a mission in Halloween Town, Xigbar takes it upon himself to teach Roxas a "hard and valuable lesson" by letting him vanquish a Heartless that was not their target.

Xigbar meets with Xemnas and Saïx in Where Nothing Gathers several times to discuss the defaulting Xion before challenging "Poppet" himself in Wonderland. Xigbar then sees Xion as Ventus, and Xion is able to quickly strike Xigbar down with the power she was unknowingly sapping from Roxas.

Kingdom Hearts II


Not long after arriving in Hollow Bastion and reuniting with Aerith, Leon, and Yuffie, Sora engages a number of Dusk Nobodies in battle around the city. After being led away from the main town, Sora, Goofy, and Donald hear voices mocking them, but they can't find their source. After Sora demands that the sources of the voices show themselves, the remaining Organization members materialize, laughing. Though they are hooded, they are recognizable as the Organization from the description given to Sora and his companions by Yen Sid.

The Organization eventually departs, but Xigbar, still cloaked and hooded, stays behind to taunt Sora further, making him and his friends feel anxious about the power of the Organization. Xigbar also openly compares the similarities between a glaring look Sora gives him and one given to him by another; Sora dismisses this as random banter meant to confuse him, and Xigbar leaves. He later travels to The Land of Dragons, where he converts a dragon into the Heartless Storm Rider to harvest hearts for the Organization. Sora encounters Xigbar at the gates to the Emperor's throne room, and believes him to be Riku, who had appeared earlier in a Black Coat, but Xigbar removes his hood and reveals his identity, while summoning several Snipers to distract Sora and his allies as he makes his getaway.



At the Castle That Never Was, Sora and his party arrive in the Hall of Empty Melodies, but they are stopped by Saïx, who summons swarms of Shadow Heartless, as well as a few Armored Knights, to attack the intruders, which soon include Kairi, Riku, Maleficent and Pete, before leaving. From an unseen location, Xigbar unleashes a rain of bullets to destroy the Heartless surrounding Sora. He teases Sora before appearing, and then tells him that he's been causing a lot of trouble for the Organization. He then cryptically states that Sora doesn't seem like "half the hero the others were," but Sora simply takes this as an attempt to throw him off-guard, and Xigbar engages him in battle. Before and during the battle, he calls Sora "Roxas" and expressing anger over Roxas's betrayal. Ultimately, Xigbar is defeated, and he begins to fade into the darkness. Sora asks him why he called him "Roxas," to which Xigbar merely chuckles and responds, "Wouldn't you like to know..." before vanishing.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance


Despite his destruction, Xigbar is revived along with Ansem and Xemnas. He is the first person to meet Sora in The World That Never Was, where he explains that he, Young Xehanort, and the others secretly arranged for Sora's journey through the Sleeping Worlds to bring him to their domain. Looking back to see Sora intending to attack him, noting the angry look, Xigbar tells him that Young Xehanort will take his place as the youth places Sora in a deep sleep.

Later, as Sora makes his way to the Castle That Never Was, Xigbar confronts him again, and he and Xemnas reveal that the true purpose of Organization XIII was to gather thirteen empty vessels to hold the essence of Xehanort and become other incarnations of him. When Sora demands to know how Xigbar could live with having his personality replaced with another's, Xigbar merely quips that he is already "half-Xehanort." When Sora resolves to fight the two Organization members, a livid Xigbar leaves Xemnas to deal with Sora. Later, in Where Nothing Gathers, Xigbar sits in Vexen's former throne while observing Master Xehanort's return and his attempt to make Sora into his final vessel. He initially mistakes Lea for Axel after Lea unexpectedly arrives to defend Sora from Master Xehanort. Although Saïx and Ansem attempt to thwart the rescue, reinforcements arrive, and Xigbar is forced to retreat with his accomplices.

Appearance
Xigbar wears the usual Organization garb of a black cloak, black boots, and black gloves, though his cloak is distinguished by its more pointed, sagging shoulders. The sleeves of his cloak are also somewhat closer-fitting than normal, though not as close as those on Axel's cloak. In terms of facial features, Xigbar sports gold eyes, pointed ears, upturned eyebrows, and dark hair with several grey streaks that is tied into a long ponytail. His gold eye, pointed ears, and the grey streaks in his hair are all traits that he gained due to harboring a fragment of Master Xehanort's heart, which he accepted during his time as Braig.

Xigbar's right eye is badly damaged and covered with a black eyepatch. He also has a large, jagged scar extending from his left cheek to just under his left eye. His original self, Braig, received these injuries when he fought the Keyblade wielder Terra in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.

Personality
Xigbar has a laid-back and cocky attitude and likes to taunt his opponents. When not on missions, he occasionally enjoys eavesdropping on his fellow Organization members. He relies heavily on instinct rather than on intelligence for both decision-making and fighting, making him adaptable and unpredictable in battle. In the English version of the series, Xigbar speaks with a stereotypical surfer accent, emphasizing his extremely casual attitude, and habitually uses the phrase "As if."

Xigbar is one of the more genial members of the Organization, alongside Axel and Demyx, due to his fondness for wisecracks and sarcasm. He is rarely serious and even makes sarcastic quips during battle. Like Demyx, Xigbar has given several members of Organization XIII nicknames, calling Roxas "kiddo" or "tiger", Xion "Poppet", and Axel "Flamesilocks".

Xigbar generally seems to care very little for his fellow Organization members. For example, he tells Roxas that what had happened to the members stationed at Castle Oblivion did not bother him, despite the fact that he had personally recruited Marluxia. He even states that he is glad the castle is quieter. In the Organization's final meeting, Xigbar somewhat jokingly remarks that there were more free seats. Xigbar does show some degree of empathy on occasion, especially towards Xion when she failed to defeat the Organization's "impostor".

Despite his high rank, Xigbar is not given high authority like Saïx or Marluxia, but he instead is sent on missions and confrontations with Sora. He does, however, maintain a position of importance in the Organization due to his past with Xehanort, and is privy to information about the Organization's leader that few others know. Xigbar has a habit of divulging relatively important information to his enemies through his taunts, though he is typically vague enough that they do not understand his meaning; for example, his numerous comments to Sora about Ventus and Roxas. He is described by Roxas as being difficult to trick. Xigbar does not seem to be intimidated by Xemnas as some other Organization members are, going so far as to spy on him in the Chamber of Repose. Xigbar considers Roxas to be a traitor, like the rest of the Organization.

Unlike the other Organization members, Xigbar does not express fear or remorse while fading into darkness, instead chuckling rather triumphantly and giving Sora a cocky reply to the final question Sora asks him. Given his general knowledge of Xehanort's plans and his subsequent return, Xigbar may have known beforehand that he would be restored.

Abilities
As the "Freeshooter", Xigbar attacks from far away using his twin Arrowguns, firing rapid barrages of lasers at Sora. He uses his control over space to its fullest, bending his attribute to teleport, warp his shots, and levitate upside down. With this ability, Xigbar does not even have to aim at Sora to hit him. Instead, he can simply fire anywhere he wishes and open spatial rifts to redirect the shots towards the Keyblade wielder. Nonetheless, Xigbar is shown to be an exceptional gunslinger, as seen in the cutscene before the battle against him, when he effortlessly destroys all of the Heartless surrounding Sora, Donald, and Goofy without hitting any of the protagonists even once. He appears to be very quick and hard to hit, although his skills still did not give him the ability to defeat Sora and company.

In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Xigbar has a Limit Break called Critical Snipe, which fires heavy bullets at enemies using an over-the-shoulder third person shooter mode to aim. Its Final Limit shoots orbs of coloured energy.

Weapon
Xigbar wields two ranged weapons called Arrowguns, the main model he wields is called Sharpshooter. The top of each weapon bears a pattern similar to the Nobody symbol. They are purple, strangely shaped weapons that appear to be somewhat similar to crossbows. They shoot red laser arrows which bend towards a target, making them quite deadly with Xigbar's aim. Xigbar uses his Space attribute to full effect by creating wormholes to fire the shots through during battle. The blasts can be rebounded at Xigbar using the Keyblade's "Guard" ability. During Xigbar's desperation attacks, the Arrowguns are able to fire a massive stream of powerful rounds, which glow blue rather than red, and adapt a rapid-fire ability. When held together and charged, the weapons can fire a massive, blue energy arrow that rebounds around the area, and can be angled to hit an enemy multiple times. After several attacks, the Arrowguns need to be reloaded.

In the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts II, the Arrowguns can be combined together into a makeshift sniper rifle with deadly accuracy. In the English version, this is depicted as Xigbar simply balancing one Arrowgun on top of the other, and the crosshairs are modified to appear less realistic and more arcane. However, this censoring was not retained for later games.

Sniper Nobodies also carry similar weapons to Xigbar; theirs are much weaker, are closer in appearance to crossbows, and their crystal arrows hang in the air for a short time, allowing for a reaction command.

When Kingdom Hearts II was released in North America, one of the main changes in the game was made to Xigbar's Arrowguns. As noted above, in the cinematic before the fight, Xigbar combines his two guns together to make a sniper rifle. He uses this move later on in the fight, as well. Due to restraints on video game violence, this was changed in North America. Xigbar no longer creates his sniper rifle, and instead, he simply spins his guns around, using one gun as a balance to steady the gun with which he snipes. The first person HUD display was changed as well, to make it less realistic. Xigbar's sniper rifle was later brought back for Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, despite keeping many changes from the English versions, and was retained in the English release of the game in the HD 2.5 ReMIX bundle. Interestingly, the Japanese HUD display is decorated with a black silhouette of Xigbar's individual Arrowguns in each of the four cardinal directions.

In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Xigbar combines his twin Arrowguns into one during his Limit Break, this kept in the English adaption as well, as it lacks the targeting graphic featured in Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix.

Trivia

 * Despite Xigbar appearing as a major antagonist in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Hōchū Ōtsuka and James Patrick Stuart are only credited for voicing Braig in the game's opening scene, and Xigbar's name does not appear at all in the credits.

Xigbar