Xehanort (disambiguation)

"Xehanort. Foolish apprentice of a foolish man."

- Ansem the Wise

Xehanort was a student of Ansem the Wise. The exploits of his Heartless and his Nobody are the basis of conflict in the Kingdom Hearts series. His name is an anagram of "no heart" or "another" with an added "X".

Ansem's apprentice
Xehanort, having somehow made his way to the Radiant Garden, arrived almost dead, found by Ansem the Wise after a mysterious group of Keyblade warriors appeared. Though he was nursed back to health, Xehanort's memory of his life beforehand was lost. He was taken in as Ansem's apprentice, where he learned much, and quickly. His abilities were said to even be superhuman. The only other thing that was found with Xehanort as evidence of the mysterious vistors is a empty suit of armor.

After a time, Ansem the Wise decided to experiment, to solve the mystery of the darkness in the heart. Xehanort volunteered to be a subject. His heart was experimented with psychological tests, partly to find Xehanort's lost memories, something that greatly interested coapprentice Even. The experiments quickly called for more. A underground laboratory was created, the Chamber of Rest, where Xehanort and Ansem's other apprentices dangerously experimented with people's hearts, quickly transforming them into Heartless, all under Ansem's ignorance. Unaware of their nature, Xehanort kept the Heartless beneath the castle. When he returned, he was mystified with the appereance of the newly born Heartless. He wrote Ansem Report 2. The Heartless multiplied, and Xehanort, under the impression they lacked hearts, called them "Heartless" in Ansem Report 3. Xehanort provided them living and non-living samples and saw that the Heartless reacted only to living samples, and that the living samples disappeared shortly after. In Ansem Report 4, he concluded that the Heartless took the heart from living beings and that the heart became another Heartless.

For observation, Xehanort took one Heartless aside. The Heartless led Xehanort to a door with a large keyhole; it was the keyhole to the heart of the Radiant Garden. Xehanort was somehow able to open this door, which normally required a Keyblade, and saw the heart of the worlds. This act broke down the barriers between worlds, represented by a meteor shower of gummi blocks. Xehanort recorded his bizarre experiences in Ansem Report 5.

Xehanort made his conclusions about the heart of the world in Ansem Report 6 and also noted the amazing properties of gummi blocks that fell to the Radiant Garden in Ansem Report 7. There was also a longing to explore the worlds outside of the Radiant Garden. As part of his experiment with the Heartless, Xehanort created the Heartless Manufactory, which recreated the conditions of a Heartless spawn. The two kinds of Heartless acted the same, but for experimental purposes, Xehanort marked the artificial Heartless with a emblem, creating the Emblem Heartless. Ansem Report 8 was written for this particular phase. Out of nowhere, King Mickey arrived in a gummi ship. Xehanort walked into one of Ansem's and Mickey's conversations, asking for permission for an experiment. His request was refused. Mickey and Xehanort conversed much, but Xehanort was interested in the sotires about the Keyblade, which he noted in Ansem Report 9.

Finally, Xehanort had an epiphany the stars in the night sky were other worlds, and like people, they had hearts. The Heartless seek those hearts. The Heartless and darkness were borne out of people's hearts. Xehanort now sought to go to the heart of the world and gain knowledge. To do this, he needed the Princesses of Heart and the Keyblade wielder. He wrote Ansem Report 10 and gave his heart into the darkness, splitting his being into his Heartless and Xemnas. The other apprentices of Ansem followed his example and their Nobodies joined Xemnas in formation of the Organization.

But Xemnas, still driven by his former self's obbession, occassionally visits the Chamber of Rest to uncover his still hidden past.

Trivia
In the japanese version, Xehanort was voiced by popular seiyuu Akio Ohtsuka, whose last involvement with SquareEnix was to voice Judge Gabranth of Final Fantasy XII, while providing the japanese voice of Launchpad McQuake for DuckTales and Darkwing Duck. The English dub had Xehanort voiced by Richard Epcar, protrayed Undine in Drakengard and Achilles in Radiata Stories. This is the second time the two both voiced the same character, the first being Batou of the Ghost in the Shell series.