Young Xehanort

Young Xehanort is the main antagonist of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. As his name implies, he is a younger incarnation of Master Xehanort, first seen in the prologue of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. By acquiring the ability to travel through time from Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, Xehanort comes into conflict with Keyblade Wielders of several generations, such as Sora, Riku, Mickey, Lea, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus.

Before Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
As his present-day incarnation, Xehanort lived his early years on the Destiny Islands, always wishing for a way to escape and see other worlds. Xehanort was paid a visit by the future incarnation of his Heartless, "Ansem", giving him the power to traverse time and assigning him the mission to gather twelve other incarnations of himself.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
After defeating the Vanitas Remnant, Terra, Ventus, and Aqua separately return to the now-ruined Land of Departure, where they encounter Xehanort, his face hidden by his hood. Xehanort draws his weapons and attacks, but after an intense battle, he walks away and disappears.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Eleven years later, Xehanort comes into conflict with Sora and Riku in the Dreaming Realm during their Mark of Mastery exam, encountering them across several sleeping worlds and accompanied by Ansem and Xemnas. With Vanitas's image behind him, Xehanort called Sora a hypocrite for helping free one prisoner yet holds one in his heart. Xehanort also attempts to force Riku to open his heart to darkness, only to learn the boy somehow achieved the means to restrain his inner darkness. Eventually, Xehanort confronts Sora again in The World That Never Was, where he traps Sora in an illusion of his first meeting with Ansem, revealing his true identity to Sora at last, as well as his goal. After Sora's heart is damaged following a fight with Xemnas, Xehanort takes Sora's comatose body to the Castle That Never Was to take Riku's place as the thirteenth vessel of Master Xehanort for Organization XIII.

Riku later comes looking for Sora and finds him, but Xehanort stands in his way. Mickey intervenes and uses a Stopgun spell which freezes Xehanort, but the materialising Master Xehanort passes his consciousness into Young Xehanort's body and breaks him free of the spell. Under Master Xehanort's control, Xehanort brandishes a variation on what would be his future Keyblade and fights Riku. Though he is defeated, Xehanort merely takes his place on one of the thrones of the Organization in Where Nothing Gathers when Master Xehanort is finally revived. He flees the scene with Master Xehanort and the others when reinforcements arrive to save Sora from his fate.

Appearance
Young Xehanort has mildly tanned skin, golden eyes, and silver hair which both slightly spikes and falls past his shoulders in the back; it is styled in a similar fashion to Terra-Xehanort's, albeit with four bangs framing his face, the back two thicker than the front two, and the two backwards spikes on the sides are absent, the topmost one slicked back. Save for a flashback scene, in which he sports the same clothes as his alternate incarnation, Xehanort is clad in the Black Coat commonly associated with Organization XIII, and when he first appears in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, he wears the hood up, very similar to Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts Final Mix.

Interestingly, in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Xehanort's body model is a copy of Saïx's, though it is likely that this was a mere coincidence, since Xehanort and Saïx appear on screen together in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

Abilities
Young Xehanort wields two weapons that bear a striking resemblance to Xemnas's Ethereal Blades. Unlike many of Xemnas's weapons, however, Xehanort's appear to have hilts. The blades are made of light blue energy, and the black handles are somewhat reminiscent of the Terminus and Ruination Ethereal Blades. The blades can be combined into a dual-blade, and they can extend to be lashed out like a whip. Xehanort wields these weapons with a reverse grip, similar to the unorthodox way Ven wields his Keyblade.

In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Xehanort retains his ability to control time, demonstrated by several strikes which temporarily slow his opponent down, as well as the fact that he fights in an arena which gives him control over basic elements, such as Fire and Blizzard. He is able to teleport himself around the battlefield like Master Xehanort, and he delivers swift, powerful strikes similar to Terra-Xehanort. He is also able to fire magical shots similar to those fired by Sora in Wisdom Form.

In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Xehanort wields a Keyblade that incorporates elements of the No Name and Master Xehanort's Keyblade. However, this is not Xehanort's own ability, but rather the result of Master Xehanort transferring his consciousness into Young Xehanort's body in order to battle Riku, and the Keyblade itself is a variation of Master Xehanort's Keyblade.

Xehanort's greatest power is the ability to reverse time after suffering a defeat, a process which returns him to his condition before the battle in which he fell started.