KINGDOM HEARTS CHAIN OF MEMORIES

First Appearance: KINGDOM HEARTS CHAIN OF MEMORIES (2004)
Japanese Voice Actor: Nachi Nozawa
English Voice Actor: Derek Stephen Prince

Number IV of the Organization, Vexen takes deep pride in being the highest-ranking member stationed at Castle Oblivion - too much, say the other members. He is well disliked by the neophytes for his cold air of superiority, and how he uses his number as leverage over them whenever he can. Most of Vexen's threats go ignored, however, since he not only has no real authority in the castle, but is completely incompetent outside the laboratory.

Disgusted by the neophyte Marluxia and his cohorts, Vexen keeps mostly to the dark basements of Castle Oblivion, along with fellow veterans Lexaeus and Zexion. There, they closely monitor the goings-on within the castle, including the bemusing appearance of Sora's friend Riku in the lower levels. Fearing that Marluxia's plans to manipulate Sora will come to fruition, Vexen and his allies decide to use Riku - whose power closely resembles that of the Superior - in much the same way. However, instead of using memories as bait, Vexen used them as materials in creating a darkness-wielding replica of Riku.

When the replica refuses to heed any more of Vexen's orders, however, Marluxia forces the scientist to confront Sora personally, baiting his pride and threatening him with the punishment of failure. After collecting memories from Sora's heart in a brief hallway skirmish, Vexen creates a card from the "other side" of the Keybearer's heart - the side with memories belonging to Roxas, his Nobody. Within the illusion of Twilight Town, he is sorely defeated by Sora, and in desperation, he begins to reveal the truth of Marluxia's plans for him. Before even a few sentences leave his lips, Vexen is struck down by Axel, who arrives in time to "eliminate the traitor." Despite all of his begging and pleading, he suffers a horrible death at Axel's hands, immolated in a burst of flame.

KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 Days

First Appearance: KINGDOM HEARTS CHAIN OF MEMORIES (2004)
Japanese Voice Actor: Nachi Nozawa
English Voice Actor: Derek Stephen Prince

A petty scientist with an icy disposition, ranking fourth in the Organization, Vexen is well disliked by most of the other members for his cold air of superiority. He uses his number as leverage over lesser-ranking members whenever he can, though his mean-minded displays are more or less ignored, since everybody in the Organization is well aware of Vexen's incompetence in battle. But while he might hide behind his ice shield in the field, he highly excels in the laboratory. Collaborating with Xemnas behind the other members' backs, he fashions a number of Replica dolls, vessels that can hold a person's stolen memories to create an exact copy of them. The most prominent of these experiments, a replica of Sora called "No. I", was able to use Sora's memories to wield the Keyblade itself.

The others, namely a replica of Sora's childhood friend Riku, were shipped off to Castle Oblivion for storage and further experimentation. With the exception of the Riku Replica, however, none of the other members knew of Vexen's replicas until after his death at Axel's hands. During the time in between, Vexen was forced to keep the Replicas confidential between himself and Xemnas, and he faced massive amounts of ridicule from the others stationed at Castle Oblivion. In the end, though, Vexen had much more under his belt than he was given credit for; secret reports and logs, hidden research experiments, and No. I - later called Xion - who would grow more powerful than any of the others could predict...

While Vexen's physical abilities still pale in comparison to those of the other members, his magic in combat remains a thing to be reckoned with. Using his diamond-hard kite shield to guard himself from harm, he utilizes potent spells from behind his safe point, sufficiently culling the herd of enemies. Vexen's Limit Break, Diamond Dust, taps deeply into his magical power and his element of ice to instantaneously form iceberg-like projectiles that can sweep across the battlefield and crush enemies from a great distance. It culminates into a single, massive glacier that shoots up from underneath Vexen's foes, bringing them to a swift and icy end.