Organization XIII

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Organization XIII debuted in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, then known as simply, "the Organization." In Sora's story, the player was introduced to (in no particular order) Marluxia, Axel, Larxene, and Vexen. In Reverse/Rebirth, Zexion and Lexaeus were added to the cast. The Organization also appeared in Kingdom Hearts II. In this second installment, the player meets (once again, in no particular order) Xigbar, Xaldin, Saïx, Demyx, Roxas, the leader Xemnas, and the returning member, Axel.

Organization XIII is a group of thirteen "people" called Nobodies, who have no hearts, nor emotions. Many of them try to hide this fact by pretending that they posses these qualities, fooling others as well as themselves. The Organization yearns to discover the secrets of the heart and fill the empty void inside themselves by gathering hearts to form the great Kingdom Hearts so that they can become full humans again. While each member is aware of their lack of emotions - a fact that makes them feel inadequate - they fill their nonexistance with their favorite passtimes. The Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories manga contradicts this, saying that they do have emotions, but are not whole.

Organization XIII was formed by a group of scientists working under a man called Ansem the Wise. The head of this unit was Ansem's apprentice, Xehanort. This group studied the workings of the heart and were the ones responsible for the production of the first Heartless. When Ansem the Wise rejected Xehanort's theory about the workings of the heart without even bothering to hear him out, Xehanort was angered, and continued his project anyways. Through this experiment, Xehanort, and those who still stuck with him, lost their hearts and became both Heartless and Nobodies.