Lexaeus

Lexaeus, the Taciturn Stalwart (静かなる豪傑), is the Nobody of Aeleus and is Rank V within the original Organization XIII. His attribute is Earth, and he uses his massive Axe Sword, Skysplitter, to create earthquakes and punish opponents with devastating physical attacks.

Lexaeus appears in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories during Riku's storyline, in which he works with Vexen and Zexion to manipulate Riku into serving them. In contrast to his fighting style and physique, Lexaeus is a disciplined schemer who often tries to keep people such as Vexen in line. Lexaeus appears in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days as a playable character in Mission Mode. Tetsuya Nomura has said that Lexaeus "has slow movement, but has very high attack power."

Between Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
About a decade prior to becoming a Nobody, Lexaeus's human form, Aeleus, was one of the six apprentices of the ruler of Radiant Garden, Ansem the Wise. Along with his fellow apprentices Braig, Dilan, Even, Ienzo, and Xehanort, Aeleus experimented on the heart until he was consumed by darkness and his own heart was lost, creating a Heartless. However, because of his strong will, Aeleus was able to live on as the Nobody Lexaeus. Lexaeus became one of the founding members of Organization XIII, and together with his cohorts, he banished Ansem the Wise to the Realm of Darkness.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Present when Xion joins the Organization, Lexaeus trains Roxas in Twilight Town. He is assigned to teach Roxas how to utilize his Limit Break and survive battle while he is low on health. He strikes Roxas harshly in the face before the training session to put him on his "last legs". Roxas then battles a Mega-Shadow and correctly executes Event Horizon, his Limit Break. When Roxas defeats the Mega-Shadow, both he and Lexaeus return to the Castle That Never Was. Soon after these events transpire, Lexaeus is sent away to Castle Oblivion.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
At Castle Oblivion, Lexaeus becomes involved in the intense rivalry between the Organization's senior members and its younger recruits, particularly Marluxia and Larxene.

Lexaeus and his colleague Zexion begin to monitor all activity within Castle Oblivion after Marluxia and Larxene show signs of betrayal. Also active in Castle Oblivion are Axel and Vexen, but because they find Axel too difficult to trust, Lexaeus and Zexion enlist Vexen's help in spying on Marluxia. After learning that Marluxia plans to use Sora in his plot to overthrow Xemnas, Vexen, Zexion, and Lexaeus decide to use Riku to eliminate the traitors in their midst.

Vexen tries to make use of Riku's power by gathering the boy's combat data and creating a replica from it, but his experiments are interrupted. Although Vexen succeeds in creating the replica, he is annihilated by Axel on Marluxia's orders before he can achieve total control over it. The replica becomes independent and begins to search for its heart.

With Vexen out of the picture and the Nobody's replica rendered useless, Lexaeus takes matters into his own hands and appears to Riku shortly before Sora confronts Axel and Marluxia on Castle Oblivion's top floor. Lexaeus tries to persuade Riku to embrace the darkness inside him, but when the boy refuses to cooperate, Lexaeus attacks, having no choice now but to eliminate him.

After their battle, Lexaeus manages to knock Riku unconscious. However, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness takes control over Riku's body and swiftly eliminates the unsuspecting Nobody. In his final moments, Lexaeus acknowledges that Riku truly is the Superior's, apologizes to Zexion for his failure, and fades back into darkness.

Sometime after that, Roxas, Xion, or Sora destroys Aeleus' Heartless. The result is Aeleus being revived in Radiant Garden along with Dilan, Ienzo, Even, and Lea.

In the original Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, after being defeated in battle, Lexaeus uses the last of his strength to drag Riku into darkness.

Appearance
Lexaeus is easily the largest member of Organization XIII, and his black coat is similar in design to Vexen's, with sleeves that are slightly longer than average. Lexaeus also wears the standard black boots and gloves. He has very angular and strong features, with a square chin, straight nose, and sharp cheekbones. Lexaeus has blue eyes and small eyebrows. His hair is auburn and slicked back into rather odd, messy spikes.

Personality
Lexaeus is intelligent and laconic, only speaking when he finds it necessary. Though a warrior by nature, he has no qualms with biding his time and planning things accordingly. He does, however, prefer a more practical approach to things, as especially seen when teaching Roxas about Limit Breaks, hitting him hard enough to put him on his "last legs" rather than just explaining how it works. This act illustrates Lexaeus' lack of empathy as befitting a Nobody, along with his matter-of-fact statement when Vexen is eliminated.

Lexaeus highly respects power in all forms, especially his own (as seen in his battle quotes). He acknowledges the power of darkness, considering it as at least equal in power to light. This frame of mind is seen in his suggestion that Riku could provide an good counterbalance to Sora, should Marluxia control him successfully. Lexaeus also demonstrates a certain degree of scorn for cowardice, branding Riku "an infantile coward" regarding his refusal to accept his darkness. Despite this dismissal, he does admit Riku's reputation is "well-deserved" and honorably compliments him for getting so far in Castle Oblivion. Even after the battle, an exhausted Lexaeus comments that the defeated Riku was "too much trouble", commending the boy's prowess in his own way.

Lexaeus is incredibly loyal to Zexion, and he finds him to be the only member of Organization XIII that he can trust, as stated in the Secret Reports. His last words are, in fact, directed at Zexion, lamenting his failure has left him without an ally. Conversely, he is shown to be very mistrustful of other members, claiming they all hide secrets from each other. He is especially suspicious of Axel, remarking no one knows what he's thinking.

Abilities
Lexaeus possesses great physical strength, and he uses Earth to reinforce his attacks. He devastates opponents with powerful blows from his Axe Sword, and when he throws it, it flies back to him like a boomerang. Lexaeus can summon rock formations from under the ground before shattering them, leaving the pieces to fly around the battlefield and damage the enemy. Like several other members of the Organization, he has the ability to levitate, and he can also strike the ground with such force that he causes it to tilt as rock formations sprout from underground. Lexaeus can create powerful shockwaves that spread across the entire battlefield, and his defense increases to the point of temporary invincibility as he powers up.

In Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Lexaeus returns as a secret boss along with the other slain Organization members from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. In this battle, Lexaeus and Sora each have a power meter. While Sora's is permanently set at 100, Lexaeus can increase his freely. When the Nobody increases his own power meter, he begins to emanate an intense black, red, yellow, and purple aura that protects him from flinching, minimizes damage, and pushes enemies away. Lexaeus is able to throw Sora up into the air and then knock him back down, and he is even able to knock Sora into one of the pillars surrounding the battlefield and then strike him with his Axe Sword. Furthermore, Lexaeus causes rock formations to rise up from under the ground with almost every attack, unlike in his battle with Riku in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Sora can use the Reaction Command Mega Impact (メガインパクト) to siphon the power away from Lexaeus onto himself.

In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Lexaeus's Limit Break is called Ayers Rock and is named after a giant rock formation in Central Australia that is also known as "Uluru". When executing his Limit Break, Lexaeus performs charged Axe Sword strikes that increase in power the longer the player holds down before attacking. If the player chooses not to charge Lexaeus's attacks, they will be significantly less powerful. If the player fully-charges Lexaeus's attacks during his Final Limit, his Axe Sword transforms into a massive column of rock that increases the range of his attacks and deals devastating amounts of damage to the opponent when he slams it into the ground.

Weapon
Lexaeus uses a massive, heavy Axe Sword (referred to as a tomahawk in Jiminy's Journal in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II) called Skysplitter in battle. The Skysplitter is about a meter long, has a blue handle roughly as long as the blade, which is made of black, red, and yellow metal, and appears to be laborious to wield for anyone who does not possess Lexaeus's great strength. Lexaeus uses his Axe Sword to perform devastating physical combos that cause rock formations to rise from underground in their wake, and he can even throw it at opponents only for it to fly back to him like a boomerang. The Skysplitter has a small Nobody insignia above the handle, although it only has a single spike. In Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Donald can obtain a similar weapon.

Notes and references
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