Larxene

Larxene, the Savage Nymph is number XII in Organization XIII, and was originally the only female member. She is the second lowest on the Organizations numbering system, number XII, Roxas being the lowest at XIII. She plays a large role in Sora's storyline during the events of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.

She will be a playable character in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Multiplayer mode.

Castle Oblivion
Larxene is one of the Organization members assigned to work under Marluxia in Castle Oblivion, which Marluxia holds as a fortress for the Organization's research into memories. Marluxia and Larxene (though Axel and Vexen aid them, they are in fact working against them in secret) conspire to usurp control of the Organization and the Nobodies from its leader, who at the time is unknown to Sora. The Organization reveals themselves to Sora slowly, at first appearing to be helpful by providing him with the means to fight within the castle (Sora had lost all of his abilities due to memory loss). Marluxia fights in disguise to instruct Sora in the use of battle cards, and Axel later fights Sora to test his strength. Larxene fights him next, with the intention of antagonizing him, and is defeated. She laughs it off later, telling Axel she is winded from "throwing the fight", though Axel does not buy it.

After she loses the battle and speaks to Axel, Axel makes on off-hand comment about using a captive girl, Naminé, to aid them in taking control of Organization XIII. Larxene, believing Axel to be in on the plot, voices her support for it, but as she leaves, Axel remarks that she should have kept it quiet.

Vexen, The Replica and Axel
Soon after Vexen introduces the Riku Replica to Marluxia, it is decided that his memories will have to be replaced if he is to be of any use against Sora. When the Replica objects to this and attacks Larxene, she easily halts his effort and smacks him into a wall, coldly refering to him as nothing more than a toy. She begins to approach him and is implied to have beaten him senseless offscreen, his utterance of "NOOOO!!!" being all that is seen/heard.

Later, when Vexen battles Sora to observe him, Marluxia and Larxene begin to doubt his sincerity to their cause. They decide to compel Vexen to pursue Sora by threatening to tell "the Superior" of the failure of the Riku Replica (as it did in fact fail). Vexen is confused at the orders, since Sora's death would ruin Marluxia's plans to use him against the Organization's head members. Although Vexen is number IV and Marluxia number XI, Marluxia had been given authority control over the castle; this coupled with Vexen's fear of Xemnas compels him to engage Sora in a simulated Twilight Town, despite his confusion. Vexen fails, and plans to tell Sora about Roxas in order to break Marluxia's plans for controlling Sora.

Axel cuts him off by killing him just before he speaks, having been ordered to eliminate him as a traitor to the conspiracy. When Axel returns, Larxene says that they hadn't been sure if Axel would have done it; in this way, Axel earns the trust of both Larxene and Marluxia.

Death
As Sora continues to make his way toward the top of Castle Oblivion, both Larxene and Marluxia leave Naminé to be guarded by Axel. However, Axel allows her to escape. Shortly afterwards, Larxene appears before Sora after the Riku Replica had taken a potshot, weakening him. Furious over Axel's betrayal and Naminé's interference, she reveals to him the true nature of the Riku Replica as well, also elaborating on Naminé's misdeeds. Naminé tries to stop Larxene from killing Sora, but she is knocked aside. And just as she is about to move in on the Keyblade wielder, Goofy pushes her away and Donald heals him. Sora, angry at Larxene's cruelty, initiates a final battle with the female Nobody. Though she fights with powerful thunder magic and her kunai, Sora defeats her, making her the first Organization member to fall at their hands.

Personality
Although Larxene is normally smiling and even winking at times in-game, she has a cruel, sadistic personality and enjoys seeing others suffer hardships and anguish. In the manga, she favored a book called the "Marquis de Sade", a pun on the man who sadism was named after. She taunts Vexen incessantly after he is threatened with charges of treason and incompetence from Marluxia, and toys with Sora before fighting him the first time. In fact, she even leads Sora to beleive that she is a nice person, just trying to help point him in the right direction: "The bad guys have her (Naminé) locked away. And you, as the hero, need to go save her!" She then smiles and attacks him, knocking him flying with a powerful kick and informs him that she is a "Bad guy", mocking his failure to remember Naminé.

After she discovers Axel's betrayal and sees that Marluxia's and her plans have fallen apart, her friendly manner vanishes and she attacks Sora in a rage.

She seems to be on good terms with Axel, often seen touching and even flirting with him in the new Re:CoM cutscenes. This has led some fans to believe there is more to their relationship, though clearly, both she and Axel put their own goals before each other.

Fighting Style
Larxene is shown to be an exceptionally capable fighter. In both her offensive encounters with Sora, she sends him flying with the force of a kick, the second encounter supposedly damaging his ribs to the point that he requires healing from Donald in order to continue fighting. She also appears to be physically strong, as she is able to easily toss the Riku Replica's body across the room with one hand as well as slap Naminé to the same effect. In the manga, Sora even comments to himself that she is "too strong" for him to fight alone.

Larxene's general fighting skills resemble that of a ninja. She uses small knives set between her fingers that form a pair of claws. She can also fling them at Sora as lightning projectiles. And though she can levitate and teleport, she also possesses very formidable agility that is a step up above the other Organization members, which combined with her sadist methods gives her good reason to be called the "Savage Nymph".

Along with her physical skills, her use of magic is deadly as well. She can summon bolts of lightning to rain down from the sky, in a focused form as well as one that strikes a large area. In addition, she can also bind a person in place with tendrils of lightning, allowing her to deal a great amount of damage without the possibility of retaliation.

In Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix, she can be battled again, complete with new fighting tactics. She can create copies of herself that can swarm Sora independently or attack simultaneously, and her attacks are more heavily oriented toward physical strikes rather than lightning spells. Sora can use a reaction command to throw one of Larxene's copies bodily at her, resulting in a stunning collision that leaves her vulnerable to attack.

Card
see:Larxene (Enemy Card)

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version, Larxene was voiced by popular seiyuu Yuko Miyamura, who was famous as the voice of Asuka Langley Soryu of the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. This marked as her first role with Square Enix.
 * Larxene was one of two characters that additional voice acting was done for in the original Chain of Memories (the other character being Vexen).
 * Larxene is one of the only Nobodies whose name can be rearranged into a few common English names, such as Arlene, but still has no official real name. However, numerous fan-made ones will exist until the official name is revealed, if it is released.
 * In the Manga, Larxene explodes after getting wet. Strangely, she gives Sora a much harder time than Marluxia before she dies.
 * Larxene is one of only four organization members shown to be able to make full-body copies of herself, the other three being Marluxia, Zexion, and Xemnas.

Video

 * Larxene in Re:Chain of Memories