Roxas

Roxas is Sora's Nobody. His name is an anagram of Sora with the letter X added. Prior to the events of Kingdom Hearts II he was the thirteenth member of Organization XIII, and bore the title "Key of Destiny". He was also the mysterious hooded figure in Another Side, Another Story as well as in Deep Dive. During the prologue of Kingdom Hearts II, the player controls Roxas until Sora is awakened.

In the upcoming game, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for Nintendo DS, Roxas will be the main character. This game will focus on the time period between Roxas's birth and his departure from the Organization.

Kingdom Hearts II
"Organization XIII's Number XIII" a Keyblade wielder and denizen of darkness.

He vanished with a satisfied look after battling Sora - but Sora was the only one who could see him in the first place.

Birth
As stated in the Secret Ansem Reports, Roxas was born when Sora stabbed himself with the Keyblade forged from the hearts of six of the seven Princesses of Heart in order to free Kairi's heart at the cost of his own. But Sora's time as a Heartless was short, as Kairi's light had fetched Sora's heart from the darkness, restoring him to his former self. Thus, Sora and Roxas co-existed, but Roxas would be without his true memories, and the two were incomplete without one another. Even so, Roxas' status as Sora's Nobody granted him the ability to use the Keyblade. This makes Roxas a very unusual Nobody.

Time in the Organization
Roxas was born in Twilight Town and was soon discovered by Xemnas who gave him his name. Having nowhere else to go, Roxas joins the Organization in hopes of finding the answers he needs. On that same day, Roxas meets Axel, and the two soon become best friends.

As he spends more time with The Organization, Roxas grows increasingly impatient towards his unanswered questions, such as where he came from and why he can wield the Keyblade. He works actively to help the Organization in their plan for Kingdom Hearts, using the Keyblade to defeat the Heartless.

Eventually, Roxas becomes fed up with recurring dreams of Sora, the other self he didn't know, and decides to leave the Organization to find him, hoping to solve all the mysteries behind his non-existence. Axel, who knows Sora's whereabouts at the time, intercepts Roxas and tries to convince him not to go through with it, warning him that the Organization would destroy him if he betrayed them. However, Roxas remains indifferent, and continues on, leaving a dejected Axel behind.

Capture
Roxas, having just left the Organization to seek out Sora, is attacked at Memory's Skyscraper by countless Neoshadow Heartless, which surround him. Roxas draws out his Keyblades, ready to defend himself. But, after slaying many Heartless, he realizes there are too many Heartless to fight alone. He looks to the skyscraper and notices Riku at the top. Roxas runs up the wall of Memory's Skyscraper, with many Neoshadows pursuing him. He tosses Riku his Oblivion Keyblade to wield, and the two fend off the Heartless together. However as soon as that threat is gone, they turn on each other. As they battle, Riku questions why Roxas has the Keyblade, which Roxas in return responds "Shut Up!". Riku continues to berate him, asking "What's wrong Sora? Giving up already?" but Roxas only shouts "I'm me! I'm Roxas!". Though Riku manages to take him down, Roxas retaliates and defeats Riku. Realizing in order "to defeat someone from the darkness, one must be one with the Darkness", Riku opens himself to power of Darkness still residing in his heart and takes the form of Xehanort's Heartless. With his newfound strength, Riku is able to summon the powerful Guardian and knock Roxas unconscious. DiZ then opens up a portal to the old mansion in Twilight Town, where Roxas came into being and where DiZ resides. DiZ's intention was to join Sora and Roxas together in order to help Sora wake up after regaining his memories. However, he knew the Organization would hunt fervently for their missing member, so DiZ places him in a digital copy of Twilight Town. There, Roxas would be kept safely away from the Organization while he himself lived unaware of his former life and his nature as a Nobody.

Digital Twilight Town


For some time, Roxas lives a normal life in the digital Twilight Town, becoming best friends with three kids: Hayner, Pence, and Olette. It is this time in the digital Twilight Town that serves as the prologue to Kingdom Hearts II. But as Naminé completes the task of restoring Sora's memories, Roxas soon begins experiencing these memories through a number of dreams, similar in appearance to poor quality video tapes. In addition mysterious events start to occur around town. Strange white creatures, the Nobodies, begin invading the town, stealing photographs and attacking Roxas. These Nobodies had been sent along with Axel by the Organization, who had finally located their former member, in an attempt to capture him. However, in times of dire need, the Keyblade (a single kingdom key this time) inexplicably comes to aid Roxas, and disappears once the threat is gone.

Along with the Nobodies, Roxas comes into contact with Naminé several times, seeming to know things about Roxas that he himself doesn't. Also, as observed by DiZ, Naminé's contact with Roxas connected his heart with Kairi's, who Roxas remembered as a friend of Sora. He also meets a mysterious man in a black cloak, later revealed to be Riku, who at one point asks a cryptic question: "Can you feel Sora?" Roxas later meets another mysterious figure masked in red bandages, DiZ, who was responsible for his imprisonment. Though the intentions of these characters are not made clear, one being named Axel, claiming that he knows Roxas, arrives with a more direct goal. He wants to bring Roxas back with him to the Organization's stronghold, though he is not afraid to defeat the young boy to accomplish his goal. He battles Roxas in the midst of the Struggle tournament, but only DiZ's timely interruption spares Roxas from defeat.

In addition to these mysterious people, Roxas also begins to see strange anomalies. Time often freezes, and only he and select people seem to be unaffected. He also sees strange "glitches" around town that he could not explain. For some time, Roxas continues to be befuddled by all these events.

That all changes when summer vacation comes to a close, and the truth is revealed: Naminé informes Roxas that he is a Nobody, and that he is supposed to meet with Sora, the one from his dreams, in order to complete him. Along with that, Roxas discovers that he is living in a digital Twilight Town, and that his friends aren't real, just data. He encounters Axel once again, who had been ordered to eliminate Roxas if he refused to return. DiZ, however, manages to freeze Axel in his tracks, along with the rest of the world, thus saving Roxas. DiZ then tells him to go to the abandoned mansion. He does so, and there he encounters Naminé. She reveals to him information on Organization XIII and states that reuniting with Sora would not cause him to disappear, but make him whole. However, she is interrupted by DiZ, but before she is taken away, she promises him that they would meet again, even if they won't recognize each other. Desiring to see Sora, Roxas makes his way through the mansion and begins to recall his former life. In doing so he realizes that he had been captured and placed into the digital world by DiZ and the mysterious cloaked man. Roxas then destroys DiZ's computer in anger, even though it was just a digital copy.

Roxas then meets with Axel one last time, but despite the fact that Roxas has regained his memories, Axel states that it is too late. The two battle once more, but this time Roxas is able to call on all of his dormant abilities, including summoning his two weapons: Oathkeeper and Oblivion, and soundly defeats his old friend, though with great regret. Roxas hopes that they will meet again, though Axel chuckles and responds that only Roxas has a next life. Axel then retreats into the darkness, failing in his mission to capture or destroy Roxas. Roxas then enters the pod room where Sora is kept, but not before seeing Donald Duck and Goofy slumbering in their own pods. DiZ is there to greet him, revealing his intentions and fueling Roxas' rage with cutting remarks about Roxas' purpose and nature.

Roxas, in his anger, tries to cut down DiZ, but sees that this DiZ is only a hologram. It vanishes, and the pod in the center of the room opens. All his anger drains away when he sees Sora slumbering in the pod. With a sad smile, he says to Sora "You're lucky. Looks like my summer vacation...is over". At this point, the prologue ends.

Resting and Hints
Right after the prologue ends, Sora hears Roxas' voice call out to him right before he wakes up and finds Donald and Goofy standing in front of him.

Roxas, though he does not truly appear to Sora throughout most of the game, is frequently mentioned. Most of the Organization members call Sora "Roxas", confusing and frustrating him. Roxas himself manages to maintain a presence within Sora despite "resting". The first time this is hinted is when Sora departs from Twilight Town for the first time, saying goodbye to Hayner, Pence, and Olette. To his surprise, a tear rolls down his cheek, expressing Roxas' own sadness in separating from his friends. And even they feel a certain connection to Sora, though they had never met before. Also, Sora instintively knows how to ride a skateboard, and is shown to be very skilled on it, an ability possibly passed down from Roxas.

During the second visit to Twilight Town, Roxas' presence within Sora is again apparent. As Sora looks through the crystal orb and at the orange sun, he can subconsciously feel Roxas within him. Then while Sora, Donald, and Goofy's brief stay in a realm of Darkness, Riku leaves two clues for them, one of which is a picture from the digital Twilight Town which shows Roxas, Hayner, Pence, and Olette standing in front of the abandoned mansion. Despite Sora having never seen Roxas before, he immediately knows that the name of the boy in the picture is Roxas.

Finally, a dying Axel reveals his intent to Sora and his relation to Roxas before fading into nothingness. His death, as Xenmas said, was strong enough to finally awaken Roxas at last.

Encounter with Sora
The hints of Roxas' presence within Sora come to a climax in the World That Never Was. At Memory's Skyscraper, two Samurai Nobodies arrive and block Sora from Donald and Goofy. Then, Roxas, shrouded in an Organization cloak, confronts Sora, summoning a Keyblade (much to Sora's surprise). The two are transported to the Station of Serenity, and they share an intense battle, which was originally depicted in a short cutscene, but became an actual boss battle in Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+. During their fight, Roxas says that he is someone from the dark, and Sora wonders if he is Riku. His guess is incorrect, and Roxas says that he had defeated a Riku once. He also asks a strange question: "Tell me...Tell me why he picked you!", and attacks Sora in a rage. At one point, Roxas floats from above, and sees the images of Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy next to Sora, and finally understands. The reason why Sora has the keyblade is because of the bond with his friends. Still, Roxas continues to attack, and is able to knock the Keyblade out of Sora's hands. But Sora defeats him in the end, after he surprises Roxas when the Keyblade comes back to him. A wounded Roxas drops his weapons, remembers the events after his "birth", and drops his hood, revealing his face and leaves with a satisfying look.

Sora returns to the World That Never Was, asking his companions about the mysterious Keyblade wielding Nobody, but Donald and Goofy say that they saw no one other than themselves, and Sora had just disappeared, leaving them to fight some Nobodies. Sora is confused, but continues on.

As Sora makes his way up the Organization's stronghold, the Organization members, before being cut down one by one, make more and more confusing remarks about Roxas. Upon Saïx's loss, Sora questions why the Organization calls him "Roxas", and Riku reveals that Roxas is his Nobody, which gives him the power to use the Keyblade. He also explains that Roxas left the Organization, and Riku tried to bring him to DiZ, but was defeated. Riku then took on the form of Xehanort's Heartless and used the darkness as a weapon. He managed to bring Roxas back so that he may join with Sora in order to awaken him from his sleep. However, Riku realized that Roxas had left in the first place because he wanted to meet Sora, and thus Riku didn't have to fight him. Sora sadly expresses that he wants to meet Roxas as well, but Riku points out that Roxas rests within him. On their way to fight Xemnas, DiZ(Ansem) apologizes to Roxas for his treatment, though he didn't know whether or not he could hear him.

After Xemnas' seeming defeat, Roxas and Naminé reunite, with Roxas projecting himself through Sora before Naminé joins with Kairi. They are happy that they met again, and say that unlike other Nobodies, they got to meet their original selves and become whole. Finally, Roxas and Naminé believe that as long as Sora and Kairi are together, so will they, and accept their place within Sora and Kairi.

Roxas and Naminé are seen one last time, when Sora and Riku return to Destiny Islands. As Sora and Kairi reunite, they smile at each other, while Roxas and Naminé do the same.

Personality
Roxas, unlike other Nobodies, seems to possess real emotions, stemming from the fact that he, like Namine, is a special Nobody. He is far more prone to anger than Sora, whom he expressed some hatred for being compared to him early due to their relation, which DiZ notes with amusement in their encounter. On the other hand, Roxas tends to be ironically melancholy and stoic, especially as he comes to realize the truth about himself. But also like Sora, they both have low patience for people who seem to be bending their will or trying to confuse them. It is possible that Roxas has feelings for Namine stemming from the fact that Roxas is a special Nobody that seems to posseses real emotions.

Weapons
In battle, Roxas dual-wields two Keyblades, Oathkeeper and Oblivion (both of which represent Sora's feelings towards Kairi and Riku, respectively), although he can also wield the Kingdom Key, such as during the events of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and his time in virtual Twilight Town. He controls the element of light and the Samurai Nobodies. Although it would normally be impossible for a Nobody to wield a Keyblade, Roxas, as the Nobody of the chosen wielder, Sora, can wield them. Of course, as the Heartless use the Keyblades as a homing signal, he is constantly under attack by them when not under the protection of Organization XIII, though they do not seek out his heart, unlike Sora. However, as the Organization's goal is to gather as many hearts as possible by using the Keyblade to extract them from Heartless, Roxas's inclusion to the Organization was actually their saving grace, as they no longer had to manipulate Sora, until Roxas deserted the Organization.

In Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+, after you have defeated Roxas, you obtain a special keyblade modeled after himself, Two Across Keyblade. It is unknown if Roxas himself ever used this Keyblade.

Fighting Style
When he attacks with his full power and the element of Light, Roxas becomes a much more dangerous foe. He can glide at fast speeds, so fast in fact that he leaves behind a lens flare, and control thirteen sword-shaped shields of light energy which can connect to form a laser array. He can levitate the keyblades in the air and whirl and spin them rapidly, showing a great deal of proficiency and skill with the blades, and can also counter any extended combo with a more powerful one of his own, even creating a ring of damage just by twirling them in a circle. His special attack involves him floating in the air and shooting his thirteen light shields around the arena, which then light it up in a thick twilight mist as Roxas begins shooting blue spheres of light at his opponent from energy gathered in his hands. He'll often attack rapidly from side-to-side, confusing the opponent, leaving a trail of light behind him. He can also perform the Duel Bout technique (similar to his Samurai Nobodies) where he rushes at his opponent and slashes at them quicker than the blink of an eye, causing intense damage if not repelled, the twist is that Sora can utilize Roxas' keyblades if he does repel the attack. However, when Sora steals Roxas' keyblades, Roxas resorts to utilizing his light shields to full effect, before moving in to steal his keyblades back from Sora.

In comparison to Sora, Roxas seems to have a far more aggressive style: he is constantly on the offensive, and abandons any defensive moves he had previously used, such as the Guard technique, in favour of speed and strength. Roxas' power is relatively the same as Sora's was during his first time in Hollow Bastion; superior to Axel but below Xemnas. When he fuses with Sora, his power skyrockets (as well as Sora as they benefit from each other) and they become equal. This gives birth to Sora's ultimate Drive Form, the Final Form. Final Form's battle style is very similar to the one that Roxas uses in his fight with Sora.

In essence, Roxas' techniques are his own unique versions of certain moves of the five Drive Forms of Sora.

Without the ability to dual-wield, Roxas is a much weaker opponent. He uses either the Kingdom Key or the Struggle Bat in this form, both much weaker weapons, and his hits consist more of single downward strikes, and slow, short combos. This appears to be his main form of fighting in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.

Battle Quotes

 * "Take that!"
 * "Come on!"
 * "Gotcha!"

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version, Roxas was voiced by Kōki Uchiyama in his debut role as a seiyuu, later voicing Neku Sakuraba in "The World Ends With You" ("It's a Wonderful World" in the Japanese version) and Jake Long in the Japanese dub of American Dragon Jake Long. He will voice Roxas's lookalike, Ven, as well as reprise his role as Roxas in two of the three new Kingdom Hearts games, Birth by Sleep and 358/2 Days, respectively. In the English and Final Mix+ versions, Roxas is voiced by teen singer Jesse McCartney, following the trend of the series for the main protagonists to be voiced by teen stars. (Haley Joel Osment as Sora, Hayden Panettiere as Kairi, David Gallagher as Riku, and Brittany Snow as Naminé.)
 * Roxas's theme is simply named "Roxas", however, when you fight him, a slightly fast-paced, version called "The Other Promise" is played. An orchestration of "The Other Promise" is included of Yoko Shimomura's Square Enix album Drammatica. The melody remains the same, but is played with the pace of and begins with "Roxas".
 * Roxas wields the Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblades. This is meant to signify the memories of Sora's friends, Oathkeeper symbolizing Kairi, and Oblivion standing for Riku.
 * Ven, a character in the yet to be released PSP title Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, bears an uncanny resemblance to Roxas. However it is yet unknown if they are related in any way (although Roxas is the Nobody of Sora, who's name, along with Ven's, mean "sky" and "wind" respectively).
 * Before his name was revealed, he was often known as the "Blond Haired Kid" or "BHK". Some fans speculated that he was Tidus.
 * Roxas' battle with Riku, as seen in Another Side, Another Story, involves him running up the side of Memory Skyscraper and passing by Riku as he leaps off. This is mirrored in Sora's battle with Xemnas, with Sora taking Roxas' place and Xemnas taking Riku's.
 * Roxas' actual hair colour seems inconsistant over time. In most drawn artwork and in the beginning and opening scenes of Kingdom Hearts II, he is portrayed as a blonde, while in more recent artwork (mostly 3D) and in the game itself, he has ginger hair.

Music
Roxas