The 13th Struggle

"The 13th Struggle" is a musical composition by Yoko Shimomura that appears in the. Two new arrangements were introduced in Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind, named "The 13th Struggle -Luxord-" and "The 13th Struggle -Larxene-". It is the boss theme of several Organization XIII members.

Appearances
"The 13th Struggle" is the field theme of the landings of each floor of Castle Oblivion in Kingdom Hearts coded.

Sora's Story

 * Battles
 * Castle Oblivion:   ,     ,

Reverse/Rebirth Mode

 * Battles
 * Castle Oblivion: Vexen, Lexaeus, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (tutorial battle)
 * Destiny Islands: Zexion

Kingdom Hearts II

 * Battles
 * Twilight Town: Axel
 * The Land of Dragons:
 * The World That Never Was:
 * Cavern of Remembrance: Axel's Replica Data, Luxord's Replica Data


 * Events
 * Betwixt and Between: Defeat the Nobodies with help from Axel.


 * Cutscenes
 * Prologue: "Axel", "Axel's Wrath"
 * Twilight Town: "Axel's Atonement", "His Last Words"
 * The Land of Dragons: "The Man Who Stands on the Snowy Mountain"
 * The World that Never Was: "Luxord", "As the Battle Ends"

Kingdom Hearts coded

 * Castle Oblivion:

Kingdom Hearts III

 * Battles:
 * Keyblade Graveyard: Luxord


 * Cutscenes:
 * Keyblade Graveyard: "Xemnas Retreats"

Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind

 * Battles
 * Garden of Assemblage: Luxord's Recreated Data, Larxene's Recreated Data


 * Cutscenes
 * Keyblade Graveyard: "Past Redux: Xemnas Retreats"

Composition
"The 13th Struggle" is approximately fifty-eight seconds long in Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories and one minute and forty-four seconds long in Kingdom Hearts II. In all versions the tempo is 180 beats per minute. It has a time signature of 4/4 time for the entire piece and is written in the key of G minor, with brief modulations into both F minor and C minor before looping back to the start. "The 13th Struggle" has a four measure introduction that leads into the repeated melodic section, and lacks a conclusion, allowing for smooth transitions between loops. Each loop is forty measures long, lasting around one minute each. The instrumentation consists of: organ, a large brass section featuring trombones, choir, strings, orchestra bells, snare drum, piano, cymbals, and timpani.

"The 13th Struggle" makes heavy use of chromatic notes. The melody in the first eight measures of the C minor section is later incorporated into the main melody of Sacred Moon.

The Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories arrangement features a brief introduction, the main melodic line, and a unique middle passage with only choir and strings, following which it loops. In the Kingdom Hearts II version, this middle passage is swapped out for a new one which incorporates the melody of "". All subsequent versions of the track continue to feature the "Organization XIII" section from Kingdom Hearts II.

Kingdom Hearts Memorial Music Box
The Kingdom Hearts Memorial Music Box website features "The 13th Struggle" as one of eight tracks from the Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX soundtrack. The song is represented by Axel and is accompanied by cutscene images and quotes related to Organization XIII.

Trivia

 * "The 13th Struggle" plays in the first battle against Ansem, Seeker of Darkness in the original version of Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, despite him not being a member of Organization XIII. This was changed in Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories.