Xigbar

Xigbar, the Freeshooter, is number II in Organization XIII. He is the fourth to last to be defeated and the first to speak to Sora in Kingdom Hearts II, although he does so hooded at first. Xigbar fights with two elaborate guns, capable of firing many different types of shots, the most common of which are laser arrows.

In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Xigbar will be featured as a playable character in multiplayer mode. In an interview, Tetsuya Nomura said that "Xigbar's attacks have a high range, but he has slow reloading time."

Kingdom Hearts II
"Organization XIII's Number II." When Sora called out to him, thinking he was Riku, Xigbar gave a curt reply.

''His motives and his methods remain unclear. Surely he has a greater goal in mind, but what could it be?''

Appearance at Hollow Bastion
Not long after arriving in Hollow Bastion and reuniting with Aerith, Leon and Yuffie, Sora engaged a number of Dusk Nobodies in battle around the city. After being led away from the main town, Sora, Goofy and Donald heard voices mocking them, but could find no source for them. After Sora demands that they show themselves, the remaining Organization members (having lost five members due to deaths and two others due to desertion) 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 them feel anxious about the power of the Organization. He also makes openly compares the similarities between a look Sora gives him and one given to him by another; Sora dismisses this as random daunting banter. Xigbar then leaves, staying out of Sora's way for a peculiarly long time.

Land of Dragons
In Sora's second trip to the Land of Dragons, Sora tracks a black-cloaked figure into the mountains. The two fight, Sora using his Keyblade and the figure using the Soul Eater that belonged to Riku, as swarms of Heartless surround them. The mysterious figure flees shortly after and, suspecting that he was Riku, Sora follows him. When Sora arrives at the Emperor's Palace, the site of his earlier battle with Shan Yu, he enters to find a man in a black cloak near the door the Throne Room. Sora calls out Riku's name, and the man unmasks himself, stepping back from the doorway.

Sora encounters Xigbar again in at the gates to the Emperor's throne room in the Land of Dragons. Having encountered another hooded man and suspected him to be his missing friend Riku, Sora inquires if he is the same person. Xigbar removes his hood, revealing otherwise and remarking that he had never heard of anyone named Riku. Xigbar summons his Snipers to distract Sora while he escapes. The diversion works, although the Nobodies were defeated, and Xigbar is able to continue his mission of summoning an enormous Heartless to harvest hearts for the Organization's plans. He manages to set the Storm Rider on the city, but it is soon destroyed by Sora, Mulan, Donald and Goofy.

The World That Never Was
Xigbar's final appearance in the game is in The World That Never Was inside Organization XIII's stronghold. After Riku and Naminé helped Kairi to escape from the Organization, they head for the Hall of Empty Melodies, a large, open-air room leading further up into the castle. Sora and his party arrive there, but are stopped by Saïx, who calls out swarms of Shadow heartless to attack the intruders. Maleficent and Pete also arrive, expressing interest in taking the Organization's castle for themselves.

Eventually, Maleficent and Pete leave to formulate a plan for taking the castle, and Saïx heads up to rejoin Xemnas. Sora and Kairi remain separated as Riku and Kairi remain above Sora on a balcony, fighting off the Heartless gathered there. Many Heartless attack Sora as well, but they are all dispatched in a sudden rain of arrows from a hidden Xigbar. He walks into view, and asks if Sora has been a good boy mockingly, echoing the words from his first encounter with Sora. He states how Sora put the Organization in a "pickle", and he supposes that was the reason the Keyblade chose him. He also makes a very cryptic remark on how he wasn't "half the hero the others were". Sora simply takes it as an attempt to throw him off. Tetsuya Nomura, character designer for the Kingdom Hearts series, later stated that the "others" Xigbar referred to were three Keyblade-wielding knights seen in the video Birth By Sleep.

Xigbar summons his weapons and leaps off the balcony and lands in front of Sora, where he squares off to do battle with Sora, calling by the name Roxas. He then attacks, telling Sora that he shouldn't have betrayed them. Ultimately, however, he is defeated and begins to fade into the darkness. Before he disintegrates completely, Sora asks him why he called him "Roxas", but the downcast Xigbar only replies "Wouldn't you like to know?", and fades away.

Personality
Xigbar has a laid-back and cocky attitude, and likes to taunt Sora to put 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."

Despite his high rank, he is not given high authority like Saïx or Marluxia but instead is sent on missions and confrontations with Sora. Some have wondered if there is any ill will between Xigbar and Saïx or Xemnas but if there is it has not been demonstrated. This in combination with his personality may imply that Xigbar prefers field work to a more administrative position.

Fighting Style


Xigbar fights by shooting rapidly from his twin guns, earning him the title Freeshooter. His gun arrows can shoot small red laser arrows that home in on the opponent. In addition to normal fire, he can also shoot very large blue laser arrows after charging up for several moments. Although these lasers do not home, they can bounce about the arena, even in mid-air, thanks to Xigbar's manipulation of gravity. He can also manipulate the space around him to teleport and hang suspended upside-down in midair to give him a height advantage over Sora without costing him a clear shot. Other forms of teleportation come in the form of small rifts that Xigbar can shoot through; the bullets will then come out in new rifts, attacking the opponent. Also, if Sora becomes invincible by use of a limit, Xigbar can teleport away from the field until the limit is over.

An interesting technique of Xigbar's is that he can combine his two guns into a sniper rifle, shooting at Sora from a distance. As the battle progresses, he begins to teleport faster and shift the ground on which they fight, and will occasionally go into a frenzy, becoming invincible and firing torrents of laser arrows before relenting and returning to normal without pause.

The reaction command while fighting Xigbar is "Warp Snipe", which is the same as the one used against his Sniper. Normally, Sora can use it to deflect the charged laser arrows back at him. Warp Snipe is also used to force Xigbar to descend from the balcony and engage Sora directly. Normal laser arrows can also be blocked with the Keyblade's "Guard" ability.

Final Fantasy
The fighting style of Xigbar was modeled after the Ranger job class of Final Fantasy, which used a bow and arrow as it's weapon. Also, Xigbar's attack, Ultima Shot, comes from the Ranger's ability, Barrage.

Final Mix additional cutscenes
Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ contains several additional cutscenes of Organization XIII's activity. One shows a conversation at an unknown time between Xigbar and Zexion, with Xigbar having recently returned from finding new members from the Organization (including Marluxia, whom he mentions as a new recruit) while Zexion and Vexen were discussing Xemnas' visit to the "Room of Sleep". Xigbar expressed his knowledge about the events of Keyblade warriors that appeared before they found Xehanort. He also talked about his eavesdropping on Xemnas during his visits to the Room of Sleep, and how he seemed to be conversing with someone that wasn't really there.

During Battle

 * "You really shouldn't have betrayed us..."
 * "Gotcha now!"
 * "Clever little sneak..."
 * "Movin' out!"
 * "Arms, reload!"
 * "Heads up"
 * "Oh yeah?"
 * "Take this!"
 * "Sora!"
 * "Roxas!"
 * "New Backdrop!"
 * "You put me to sleep bucko!"
 * "So, what do ya' think?"
 * "Okay, now we're talkin'!"
 * "This'll be the end for ya!"
 * "Now, let's see how you dance!"
 * "I lost...? Me?!?"

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version, Xigbar was voiced by seiyuu Houchu Ohtsuka, who provide the voice of a Before Crisis Turk (Martial Arts Male) in Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, as well as Davy Jones in the Japanese version of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
 * In the North American version of Kingdom Hearts II, a Secret Ansem Report misspells his original name as Bleig.
 * In the original Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts II, Xigbar fought with a fused rifle of his guns that is created when he starts the battle. In the English version, this scene was edited to Xigbar just spinning his guns, whereas his sniping position is changed to him holding one gun on top of the other for support. The HUD for his sniper mode was also changed to look less realistic.
 * Xigbar controls Sniper Nobodies. Note that they share the same reaction command (Warp Snipe).
 * He is the first Kingdom Hearts character to truly wield guns, though somewhat fictionalized, that have been emphasized, unlike Clayton before him.
 * Xigbar's line "compared to ones before this, you're weaker" was meant to hint he had fought other Keyblade users before Sora. Tetsuya Nomura confirmed this, but did not explain exactly what Xigbar meant otherwise.

Video
Xigbar