Xaldin

Xaldin, the Whirlwind Lancer, is number III in Organization XIII, and a senior member. He appears in Kingdom Hearts II as a villain in Beast's Castle, and spends his time in the game attempting to plunge Beast into despair in the hopes of seperating his heart from his body. Xaldin wields six lances and the element of wind, and is one of only three Organization members whose names start with an "X".

First Attempt
Xaldin's first major appearance in the game is as a cloaked and hooded figure during Sora's first visit to Beast's Castle. At this time, Xaldin has already drained Beast of much of his hope and kindness by convincing him that Belle is plotting against him. Beast is unresponsive to Sora, Donald and Goofy when they first greet him, despite having met them before in Kingdom Hearts at Hollow Bastion. Xaldin's slippery words cause Beast to lock himself in his chambers and refuse contact with them or Belle.

Sora, fighting his way through the Heartless that have settled into the castle, eventually reaches Beast's bedroom. Xaldin tells Beast that Sora and his party are only there to help Belle against Beast, and that she has sent them to steal the rose symbolizing his curse from him with the intention of eventually taking his life. Beast, still under Xaldin's influence, attacks Sora as Xaldin flees, but Sora is able to bring Beast back to his senses.

When Sora and Beast head downstairs into the ballroom, they encounter the Shadow Stalker Heartless, which attacks them. After being defeated, it evolves into the large Dark Thorn, but that too is no match for Sora, and is destroyed. Xaldin leaves the area without actually fighting himself, but continues to lurk in the world until Sora returns.

Second attempt
Xaldin strikes again when Sora returns to Beast's Castle to find Belle and Beast having a private dance party. He captures Beast's rose and flaunts it in front of Beast, who goes into a rage and pursues Xaldin around his castle. Before Xaldin seems to disappear from the world entirely, he mocks Beast, taking off his hood and resolving to seperate Beast's heart from him and take control of his Heartless and his Nobody. In Beast's anger, he rages at Belle for insisting on having the party. Despaired over the loss of his rose and his own beastly state, Beast orders Belle to leave the castle. Belle shuts herself in her room, confining herself to looking out on the balcony. There she finds Beast's rose, and gladly signals to Sora from the balcony. The rose is just a trap, however, and Xaldin appears behind her, kidnapping her as well as retaking the rose. Xaldin flies down in front of Beast in his courtyard, taunting him by saying he can only carry either the rose or Belle along with him, and forcing Beast to choose which one he wants him to leave behind. Before Beast has to choose, however, Belle catches Xaldin in the side with her elbow and grabs the rose, taking the time from Xaldin's surprise to escape his grasp. Beast then attacks Xaldin, who leaps aside and conjures six long spears using his powers over wind. He battles Sora and Beast in the courtyard, but is eventually defeated, and fades back into the darkness.

Characteristics
Xaldin is a high-ranking and independent Organization member, working alone for the entirety of his presence in Kingdom Hearts II. Xaldin is sadistic and revels in despair, attempting to cause hopelessness for Beast both in the castle and by taunting him and Sora during their fight. He is strongly built and very acrobatic, and his physical capabilities are greatly enhanced by his control of the element of wind, which he can use to maneuver himself into a variety of attacks.

Xaldin fights using six lances conjured from the wind. He can carry up to three at a time, and controls any he is not carrying using the air around him, while at the same time floating through the air without much effort. Some of his numerous attacks include using wind to strike with all six lances from above, lashing out with his lances at different angles, spinning around in a circle with his weapons outstretched, and dropping each lance once, then sending them to orbit an opponent. After a brief pause, Xaldin drops the six lances down at once He can also conjure blasts of wind to damage his enemies, and combine his lances into a dragon-like figure that can release a whirlwind from its mouth. He is often very difficult to attack due to his whirling lances forming a barrier around him, but by dusing the reaction command "Learn", Sora can use a jumping attack to disrupt his pattern of attack, dealing great damage and leaving him vulnerable to attack by Sora's keyblade.

Xaldin controls the Dragoon Nobodies, which are Nobodies armed with a spear that can float in the air and use diving attacks. Like Xaldin, they have the reaction command of "learn", giving Sora the ability to use a jumping attack to defeat them.

Although Xaldin is only the third Organization member Sora battles in Kingdom Hearts II, the fight against him was considered difficult enough that it was one of the two battles in the game where King Mickey can rescue Sora if he is defeated (the other being the fight against Xemnas).

Additional Final Mix cutscenes
Xaldin appears in some of the additional Organization XIII cutscenes included in Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix. He is present when Axel is ordered to eliminate Roxas after it is clear that Roxas has no intention of returning to the Organization, driving the order home by threatening Axel, sending one of his lances into Axel's chair inches from his head. He is also present at an Organization meeting, and breaks up an argument between Xigbar and Demyx.

Trivia

 * In the japanese version, Xaldin was voiced by seiyuu Yousuke Akimoto, whose last involvement with SquareEnix was to voice Judge Bergan of Final Fantasy XII.
 * Many fans humourously note that Xaldin's original name can be rearranged to spell Linda.

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