Braig

Braig, misspelled as "Bleig" in the North American version of Kingdom Hearts II, is the human form of Xigbar. Though he is one of Ansem the Wise's apprentices, he is also working in secret for Master Xehanort.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep


Prior to Master Eraqus's students coming to Radiant Garden, Master Xehanort appears before Braig and convinces him to aid him in manipulating Terra into using his darkness, in return for giving him the means to use a Keyblade.

Braig finds Terra after he separates from Aqua and Ventus, and he leads the skeptical Terra underneath Radiant Garden, where he shows him Master Xehanort chained to a large pole, to Terra's horror. Braig then engages Terra in a duel, intent on eliminating him and taking his Keyblade. Terra is reluctant to fight back out of fear of succumbing to the darkness and endangering Master Xehanort, until the latter screams for him to use the Keyblade and avoid shaming Master Eraqus. Terra fights back and eventually defeats Braig by using the power of darkness, in the process scarring Braig's face and permanently damaging his eye.

After Terra leaves, Braig furiously attempts to gun down Xehanort for setting him up as "collateral damage", but Master Xehanort threatens him into backing down and continuing with their plan.

Some time later, Xehanort infuses a piece of his heart into Braig's.

Braig later appears in the Keyblade Graveyard, his body adopting Master Xehanort's yellow eye color and pointed ears. He appears in front of Aqua and Ventus, attempting to turn them against Terra, but they refuse to forsake their friend. After mocking the angry glare Ventus gives him, Braig is challenged by Aqua and defeated. Since he had only needed to buy time for Vanitas, he turns and runs. Aqua gives chase, but she turns back, not wanting to leave Ventus alone in his fragile state, and Braig returns to Radiant Garden.

After Aqua defeats Terra-Xehanort, Braig leads Dilan and Ansem to the amnesiac young man. Braig smiles triumphantly to himself, satisfied that the elder Master's plan worked. He asks Dilan to gather Aqua's discarded Keyblade Armor and Keyblade as he carries Terra-Xehanort to the castle on Ansem's order.

Braig later approaches the new Xehanort, now an apprentice under Ansem, and is dismayed to find that the new Xehanort does not recognize him, and Braig's attempts to help Xehanort remember serve only to annoy him. At one point, Braig questions if this new Xehanort is actually Terra, but Xehanort still does not respond, much to Braig's relief. Nevertheless, Braig promises to look out for Xehanort.

Between Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
After Ansem began performing tests on Xehanort's heart, Braig convinces the other apprentices to aid him and Xehanort in conducting inhumane experiments on the human heart and the darkness within it, in the attempt to remove one's sense of self, which would allow them to create vessels for Master Xehanort's heart. These experiments led to the mass release of Heartless into the Realm of Light. Ansem eventually discovered their secret experiments and immediately ordered them to be ceased.

Soon after, Braig and the other five apprentices banished Ansem the Wise to the Realm of Darkness. They continue their experiments in the meantime, until Even and Ienzo are overcome by darkness in Ansem's computer room. Braig demands an explanation from Xehanort, who summons his Keyblade and stabs Braig in the chest, removing his heart. Not long afterwards, Xehanort, taking the name "Ansem", gave his own heart over to darkness, becoming a Heartless and Nobody. Although his heart was removed and became a Heartless, Braig's strong will enabled his body to continue existing as the Nobody Xigbar. Under Xemnas, Xehanort's Nobody, and Xigbar, the Nobodies of the six apprentices formed Organization XIII.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Despite the destruction of his Heartless and Xigbar, Braig does not reappear in Radiant Garden with Dilan, Even, Aeleus, Ienzo and Lea, which prompts Lea to venture out to search for him and Isa.

Later, Xigbar reveals to Sora his original self's pact with Xehanort and his nature as a "half-Xehanort" being.

Appearance
Braig wears a guard's uniform with a dark slate grey jacket, silver highlights, and two rows of gold buttons on the front. He wears a black belt and white gloves adorned with a silver, curled heart symbol. His jacket bears some resemblance to Xigbar's black coat, sporting the same pointed shoulders. He also wears black, knee-high boots and a tattered, red scarf. In terms of facial features, Braig sports brown eyes, though they turn gold upon his acceptance of a piece of Master Xehanort's heart, upturned eyebrows, and dark, shoulder-length hair that he wears slicked back. After his fight against Terra, he loses his right eye and receives a jagged scar over his left cheek, making him and Master Eraqus the only two characters that are seen receiving scars during the story. After he takes the bandages off, Braig wears an eyepatch to cover his lost eye.

Braig wields two Arrowguns shaped like crossbows. They are colored in shades of silver and a faded, metallic purple and adorned with the same curled heart symbol as his gloves.

Personality
Since Braig is the original persona of Xigbar, he possesses most of Xigbar's personality. He is shown to have a laid-back, cocky attitude, and he often does not take things seriously. Braig appears be cruel and sadistic at times, as seen when he nonchalantly approaches Aqua and Ventus and asks which one of them wants to be destroyed first. He is a skilled manipulator, easily goading Terra into fighting him, and successfully stalling for time in his battle with Aqua.

Braig often refers to Master Xehanort as an "old coot" and, like Xigbar, punctuates his sentences with "As if.".

He also desires to possess a Keyblade of his very own, even to the point of allowing Master Xehanort to make him the first of his twelve clones just to gain the ability to wield one at the eventual cost of his indiviuality.

Abilities
Like Xigbar, Braig wields twin Arrowguns in battle, using them to fire a variety of quick shots. He uses a telescopic view in battle and is able to teleport, warp his bullets, and levitate upside-down via space distortion. As with his Nobody's, Braig's HUD display has a silhouette of his Arrowguns in each of the four cardinal directions. The shots Braig fires when he is sniping are violet like Xigbar's, but they seem to have explosive properties to them. He can also combine his two weapons into one in order to fire powerful shots in rapid succession. Braig is also very agile, able to make high leaps into the air, and quickly run around opponents while leaving after-images of himself.

In the Western and Final Mix releases of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, his targeting reticule was changed drastically, much like it was for his Nobody, Xigbar. Instead of the crosshair-shaped reticule used when fighting Terra, the American, European, and Final Mix versions simply showed three violet dots, vaguely showing Braig's aim.