Japanese VA: Hōchū Ōtsuka
English VA: James Patrick Stewart
First appearance: Kingdom Hearts II
Known as the Nobody counterpart of one of Ansem the Wise’s apprentices, Braig, Xigbar is the second of the six founding members of the elusive Organization XIII, a group of thirteen elite Nobodies whose goal is to complete Kingdom Hearts in order to regain their hearts and become whole again. Xigbar’s role is first seen in play in Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days where he aids Roxas in certain missions. He is seen as a laid-back character, shown to be one of the more wise-crack members with his quick quips and sarcastic humour. However, his role becomes more than just the Freeshooter when he challenges Organization XIII’s 14th member, Xion, to a battle, where she suddenly appears to him as Ventus, a past Keyblade hero from the up-and-coming prequel Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. He says to ‘Ven’, “Of all the faces... Why do I look at her and see yours? Do you always have to stare at me like I just drowned your goldfish?” thus hinting at both a past connection between Braig and Ven, and a connection between Sora and Ven.
Xigbar’s second appearance is in Kingdom Hearts II where he is seen only on a few occasions, but his presence is very noticeable due to his deceptive nature and his tricky words. His role is composed of carrying out missions and taunting Sora and friends about Organization XIII’s power. However, there is a much more mocking role at play since he regularly refers to Sora as ‘Roxas’, dropping hints to Sora that he looks like Roxas (and therefore Ven), which confuses the Keyblade wielder. Xigbar’s jibes are brushed-off, and later on, he comes across Sora and friends at The World That Never Was, where he tells Sora, “You don’t look like you’re half the hero the others were,” indicating that Braig has had some sort of past with the past Keyblade wielders (Terra, Aqua and Ven). Xigbar then challenges Sora and friends to a battle. The battle is gruelling since Xigbar relies heavily on instinct, and coupling that with his duel guns and his manipulation of space, he is quite an unpredictable fighter, making him a formidable opponent with his long-ranged attacks. However, at close range, Xigbar can be devastating as shown during his ‘desperation’ attack, in which he is hard to dodge and impossible to hit. The fight is long and challenging, but ultimately, Xigbar is defeated and disappears into darkness, his dying words being, “Wouldn’t you like to know?” when Sora asks him why he called him Roxas, further accentuating the Freeshooter’s mysterious nature.
Even though Xigbar fades into darkness in Kingdom Hearts II, he makes further appearances in Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ in extra scenes, where his role as a significant character is shown in a much brighter light. He comments to Zexion on “people with Keyblades starting to appear” who “fought great battles”, hinting that Braig was around at that time and experienced the great battles. However, Xigbar starts to unfold as a more sinister character when he probes Zexion’s interest by telling him that he has been eavesdropping on Xemnas on Xemnas’s visits to the Room of Sleep. Zexion remains uninterested when Xigbar tells him that he has heard Xemnas talking with somebody even though he is supposed to be alone, but when Xigbar mentions that Xemnas is using Castle Oblivion as new Organization headquarters because he is looking for the mysterious Room of Awakening, Zexion suddenly becomes tense. Xigbar’s curious and suspicious nature is emphasized, and his agenda becomes even more mysterious through his apparent knowledge of past events.
However, one of Xigbar’s biggest mysteries is his appearance as Braig in the up-and-coming prequel Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, where his role is established as the biggest out of the roles of the apprentices of Ansem the Wise, save Xehanort. Whereas Xigbar looks aged with an eye-patch, grey streaks in his hair and a scar on his face, Braig is relatively young-looking without Xigbar’s lacerations. It is unknown why Xigbar appears as such as a Nobody, but one of the clues may be held in Braig’s kidnapping of Master Xehanort, a past Keyblade master and one of the main characters of Birth by Sleep; it is revealed that Braig is in pursuit of the Keyblade for unknown reasons. Braig is also seen fighting Terra, the reasons of which are also unknown. It is said that Birth by Sleep will uncover Braig’s true agenda, and will therefore answer many of the questions and clear much of the mysterious air that surrounds Xigbar.