Xigbar

Xigbar, the Freeshooter (魔弾の射手), is the Nobody of Braig and is Rank II within 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, believing him to be Riku, who has been underminding the Nobody's scheme. When asked if he is Riku, Xigbar removes his hood and summons 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 despite him using mind games on the youth, a livid Xigbar leaves Xemnas to deal with Sora. Later, in Where Nothing Gathers, Xigbar sits in Vexen's former throne while overseeing the return of Master Xehanort and his attempt to make Sora into the final vessel. He initially mistakes Lea for Axel after Lea unexpectedly arrives to defend Sora from Master Xehanort. Xigbar then orders one of the hooded members of the true Organization XIII sitting beside him, Saïx, to attack. Reinforcements arrive, however, 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 distinguishable by more pointed shoulders and the fact that it sags at the shoulders, as well. The sleeves of his cloak are also somewhat closer-fitting than normal, though not as close as Axel's. In terms of facial features, Xigbar sports gold eyes, pointed, elf-like ears, upturned eyebrows, and dark hair with several grey streaks tied into a long ponytail. His gold eyes, pointed ears and grey streaks of long hair are due to harboring a fragment of Master Xehanort's heart, which he accepted during his time as Braig.

Xigbar also has two visible injuries on his face; the first being a damaged right eye covered by an eyepatch, while the other is 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 he likes to taunt Sora to throw him off-guard, though with limited success. 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. He also has a habit of saying, "As if." In the English version of the series, Xigbar speaks with a California Surfer accent, possibly to emphasize his laid-back nature.

Along with Axel and Demyx, Xigbar acts as the Organization's comic relief due to his frequent sarcasm and wise cracks. Xigbar is probably the most wise-cracking of them all, as unlike Axel, who knows when to be serious (Demyx having his comic relief due to his klutzy persona, along with his laziness), Xigbar never breaks character and even continues to make sarcastic comments while in battle. He also uses nicknames for the other members on occasions, calling Roxas "kiddo" or "tiger" in the Grey Area and on various missions, calling Xion "Poppet" in the Grey Area, and once calling Axel "Flamesilocks" near the end of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, when he talks to Roxas about the outcome of the "Ven incident".

Xigbar is also shown to be very uncaring about the other members of the Organization, save for Xion. For example, he tells Roxas that what had happened to the members stationed at Castle Oblivion did not bother him, and he even stated that he is glad the castle is quieter. In the Organization's final meeting, Xigbar somewhat jokingly remarks, "Seems like we're getting a lot more free seats."

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. Considering his personality, it could possibly be that Xigbar simply prefers field work over a more administrative position. However, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days seems to contradict this, as Xigbar attends a meeting at which the only other members attending are Xemnas and Saïx (the Organization's leader and second-in-command). Xigbar also has a tendency to spy on other members of the Organization—he spies on Xemnas going to the Chamber of Repose in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, and he spies on Axel and Xion discussing Roxas in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Due to his high rank and spying, Xigbar knows a great deal of the Organization's secrets. If one listens carefully, he has a habit of hinting at some of the Organization's secrets, but most are too vague to understand at first. Xigbar is noted by Roxas as being difficult to trick. He seems to be the type of guy who will find out about a secret that interests him, one way or another.

Along with the rest of the Organization, Xigbar considers Roxas to be a traitor. He seems to support this view more than any other Organization member, as he's the only one who states it in his battle quotes. In fact, when the battle begins, he remarks, "You really shouldn't have betrayed us!" However, this could simply be in keeping with his mocking personality, as he seemed to be taunting Sora for his ignorance of Roxas.

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 subsequent return, it is possible that he knew beforehand that his destruction was only temporary.

Interestingly, Xigbar shows some signs of empathy, especially towards Xion when she fails to defeat the Organization's "impostor".

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. During Critical Snipe, Xigbar's gameplay goes into an over-the-shoulder third-person shooter mode. He combines his two Arrowguns into a single sniper rifle, and he fires large, powerful bullets at the target. Enemies Xigbar hits take damage and are temporarily stunned. Due to his manipulation of space, he can hang in midair and shoot, but not upside down. During Xigbar's Final Limit, Xigbar's bullets become larger, more powerful, and can be fired at a faster rate. They also morph into spheres of pink, white, and blue energy. Their strength is shown by the ripples they make in space as they are fired. Enemies that are hit take heavy damage.

Overall, despite his laid back nature, Xigbar has been shown to be a very capable fighter, able to instantly wipe out a large swarm of Shadow Heartless on more than one occasion.

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, Xigbar doesn't combine the guns, but uses one gun to balance the other (though the effect is the same). The rifle sight is also different in each version. In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Xigbar combines his weapons in the same manner when using his Limit Break, and this is uncensored in the English version.

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. 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