Xaldin

Xaldin, the Whirlwind Lancer (旋風の六槍), is the Nobody of Dilan and is Rank III within Organization XIII. He controls wind, and uses his power over the air to freely manipulate his six lances without holding them directly. He commands the Dragoon Nobodies.

Xaldin appears in Kingdom Hearts II as a villain in Beast's Castle, and spends his time in the game attempting to plunge Beast into despair in the hopes of separating his heart from his body. Xaldin is a playable character in the multiplayer gameplay of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
No. III XALDIN

''Founding member. A warrior with a silver tongue. He carries six lances, and can harness the wind.''

Weapon: Lances

Kingdom Hearts II
''Organization XIII's Number III. His wiles have clouded the Beast's heart.''
 * First Entry

The Organization's motives are a string of mysteries--what could their true goal be?

''Organization XIII's Number III. He wanted the Beast's Heartless and Nobody in order to acquire Kingdom Hearts.''
 * Second Entry

In the end, however, Sora and his friends destroyed Xaldin.


 * Third Entry

''Organization XIII's Number III. He sought the Beast's Heartless and Nobody in order to acquire Kingdom Hearts.''

He was a master of wind who wielded six lances--but he met his end at the hands of Sora.


 * Organization XIII

Organization XIII's Number III.

''Nobodies like him are made whenever people strong of heart and mind become Heartless. The empty shell they leave behind acts of its own will.''

''Are they empty vessels devoid of hearts? Are they roaming spirits? Or are they simply nothing at all?''

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Xaldin plays a minor role in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Present when Xion joined Organization XIII, he aided Roxas on various missions, particularly to Beast's Castle. It was on one of these missions that the Whirlwind Lancer witnessed the Beast's power, the quest in Kingdom Hearts II to obtain the Beast's Heartless and Nobody beginning at this point.

Hollow Bastion
Xaldin appears with Xemnas, Saïx, Xigbar, Luxord, and Demyx at Hollow Bastion standing at the right of Xemnas. All he does in the confrontation is laugh emptily with the rest of the group at Xemnas' empty humor.

First Attempt
Xaldin's first major appearance in the game is as a cloaked and hooded figure during Sora's first visit to Beast's Castle. At this time, Xaldin has already drained Beast of much of his hope and kindness by convincing him that Belle is plotting against him. Beast is unresponsive to Sora, Donald and Goofy when they first greet him, despite having met them before in Kingdom Hearts at Hollow Bastion. Xaldin's slippery words cause Beast to lock himself in his chambers and refuse contact with them or Belle.

Sora, fighting his way through the Heartless that have settled into the castle, eventually reaches Beast's bedroom. Xaldin tells Beast that Sora and his party are only there to help Belle against Beast, and that she has sent them to steal the rose symbolizing his curse from him with the intention of eventually taking his life. Beast, still under Xaldin's influence, attacks Sora as Xaldin flees, but Sora is able to bring Beast back to his senses.

When Sora and Beast head downstairs into the ballroom, they encounter the Shadow Stalker Heartless, which attacks them. After being defeated, it evolves into the large Dark Thorn, but that too is no match for Sora, and is destroyed. Xaldin leaves the area without actually fighting himself, stating that it wasn't over, but continues to lurk in the world until Sora returns.

Second attempt
Xaldin strikes again when Sora returns to Beast's Castle to find Belle and Beast having a private dance party. He captures Beast's rose and flaunts it in front of Beast, who goes into a rage and pursues Xaldin around his castle. Before Xaldin seems to disappear from the world entirely, he mocks Beast, taking off his hood and resolving to separate Beast's heart from him and take control of his Heartless and his Nobody. In Beast's anger, he rages at Belle for insisting on having the party. Despaired over the loss of his rose and his own beastly state, Beast orders Belle to leave the castle.

Belle shuts herself in her room, confining herself to looking out on the balcony. There she finds Beast's rose, and gladly signals to Sora from the balcony. The rose is just a trap, however, and Xaldin appears behind her, kidnapping her as well as retaking the rose. Xaldin flies down in front of Beast in his courtyard, taunting him by saying he can only carry either the rose or Belle along with him, and forcing Beast to choose which one he wants him to leave behind. Before Beast has to choose, however, Belle elbows Xaldin in the side and grabs the rose, taking the time from Xaldin's surprise to escape his grasp. Beast then attacks Xaldin, who leaps aside and conjures six long spears using his powers over wind. He battles Sora and Beast on the bridge, using his abilities to the fullest, but is eventually defeated, and fades back into the darkness.

Personality
Xaldin is a high-ranking and independent Organization member, working alone for the entirety of his presence in Kingdom Hearts II (sans his hooded appearance in Hollow Bastion). Xaldin acts sadistic and appears to revel in despair, attempting to cause hopelessness for Beast both in the castle and by taunting him and Sora during their fight. He is tall, strongly built, and very acrobatic, and his physical capabilities are greatly enhanced by his control of the attribute of wind, which he can use to move himself into a variety of attacks. Interestingly enough some of Xaldin's in battle quotes and the delivery of his lines seem to give him a sense of meaninglessness (emphasized by the fact that he will hold his arms behind his back in scenes, and even in battle).

Fighting Style
Xaldin fights using six lances conjured from the wind. He can carry at least three at a time, and controls any of the lances he is not carrying by using the air around him, while at the same time floating through the air without much effort. He attacks rapidly, using the wind to hasten the speed of his strikes, and can use the Jump command his Dragoon Nobodies use, although Xaldin tends to jump multiple times and does more damage.

Although Xaldin is only the third Organization XIII member battled in Kingdom Hearts II, the fight against him was considered difficult enough that it was one of the ten battles in the game where King Mickey can rescue Sora if he is defeated (the other nine including the fight against Shadow Stalker/Dark Thorn, Xemnas (first armored form) and Cerberus). In fact many fans have pointed out that only the fights against Xemnas and Sephiroth were harder.

Weapon
Xaldin carries six Lances, called Ryūgasen (lit. Flash of the Dragon's Fang). They, along with Xaldin's attacks and Dragoon Lesser Nobodies, are a reference to Final Fantasy's Dragoon Job Class. They are purple and blue, longer than six feet, each has the shape of the Nobody symbol, and one end resembles a Dragoon Nobody's "head" combined with the lower half of the Nobody logo. Xaldin only holds up to three at a time, and the rest float around him in the wind Xaldin commands.

Xaldin can use them to thrust from long distances, twirl them around himself as a form of defense, jump down on a foe with all six pointed downward, or have them grow and fuse into an enormous dragon that he rides on before firing a whirlwind from the dragon's mouth.

Xaldin has been shown using new lances in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, though in the non-canon multi-player mode.

Playing as Xaldin
In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Xaldin attacks with wide, and long-ranged swipes with his Lances, similarly to his boss incarnation in Kingdom Hearts II and is playable only through Mission Mode. Via the Gear System, Xaldin can be customized along with all other playable characters, attacking in a multiple-hit combos that specialize in wide ranged attacks that single out enemies. Xaldin's Limit Break, Dragoon Storm, causes Xaldin to swirl his blade-like weapons around himself in powerful bursts. Enemies that are hit take Wind damage, and are pushed away from the Nobody. In it's Final Limit incarnation, Xaldin follows up with teleport attacks that jump straight on top of the enemies, similar to the Jump Reaction Command Sora can use in Kingdom Hearts II on Xaldin himself and the Dragoon Nobodies. It is interesting to note that Xaldin's Mission Mode gameplay was the first revealed for 358/2 Days to English audiences, Xaldin shouting "This will crush you!" upon the execution of his Limit Break.

Additional Final Mix cutscenes
Xaldin appears in some of the additional Organization XIII cutscenes included in Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix. He is present when Axel is ordered to eliminate Roxas after it is clear that Roxas has no intention of returning to the Organization, driving the order home by threatening Axel, sending one of his lances into Axel's chair inches from his head. He is also present at an Organization meeting, and breaks up an argument between Xigbar and Demyx, much to Luxord's disappointment.

Quotes
"She's scheming to take everything you have."

"This castle, your precious rose. And then--your life."

"What? To love, and be loved in return?"

"You don't know when to quit."

"A welcome indeed."

"Yes. Let your anger grow..."

"You had me worried. I was afraid you'd given up for good."

"When Kingdom Hearts is ours, we can exist fully and completely. So you see, Beast--that's why we need your Heartless AND your Nobody."

"With pleasure, but I'd rather travel light..."

"I've come to take something you hold very dear."

Trivia

 * In the North American version of Kingdom Hearts II, a Secret Ansem Report misspells his original name as Dilin.
 * In the manga of Kingdom Hearts II, Xaldin is defeated, and retreats to The World That Never Was. While walking back to headquarters he is confronted by Vexen Replica No. 44, and after a brief conversation, is killed by him, most likely on the ground that he failed at such an important task (It is possible that Xaldin was killed in self defense since he attacked the Vexen clone first). He is never shown holding his lances but instead, all six float around him.
 * Xaldin is the only Organization member killed in a Disney-based world.
 * Although Xaldin essentially takes Gaston's place as main villain in the storyline, he has personality traits more similar to that of the villain from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, Forte. Both attempt to convince Beast that Belle doesn't really love him and both try to manipulate the Beast for personal (or in Xaldin's case, group beneficial) means. Gaston himself is absent from both Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, a possible explanation being that his ill-fated battle against the Beast most likely occurred after Xaldin's defeat and while Sora, Donald and Goofy were absent from the world.
 * Xaldin has the second highest throne in the Organization.
 * It was confirmed he will appear in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, as Dilan, alongside the other members. His appearance shows the most differences from his Nobody form when compared to the other apprentices first appearing in the trailer, even of it is a difference of hairstyle.