What are your thoughts on Xemnas?

[MysticMage10]

Back in high school, I remember that Axel was my favorite organization member (I had a bit of a crush on him, lol.), but for whatever reason over time I've found myself growing a soft spot for Xemnas. Maybe it's because he's so damn cool, or because he has the most badass boss themes in the entire series (fight me), or because of his sympathetic final scene in KH3, or maybe it's just because I think he's fucking handsome. Maybe it's all the above. But I'm curious to see what everyone else thinks of him, lol.

 

[Ðari]

Moving topic to appropriate section. Carry on.

 

[GreyouTT]

He used to be my favorite villain of the bunch, but after KH3 I kinda swapped to Ansem.

It just hit me pretty hard.

 

[2 quid is good]

I always really liked him. He gave off tragic Shakespearian vibes (as much as you can get in Kingdom Hearts). I wasn't a fan of how his character was used in 3D, I thought he was much more interesting when all we knew of him was that he was moving towards a seemingly noble goal in a misguided way, instead of being a willing pawn in somebody else's plans. I liked his death scene in KH3 however.

I still think he's on balance one of the more interesting villains in KH and i wished they kept that tragic aspect to him

 

[MysticMage10]

I wasn't a fan of how his character was used in 3D, I thought he was much more interesting when all we knew of him was that he was moving towards a seemingly noble goal in a misguided way, instead of being a willing pawn in somebody else's plans.

Same. The "plot twist" that was nobodies being able to grow new hearts after all and Xemnas just lied to everyone sort of ruined his character for me. It would've made him come off more sympathetic during his death scene had they never included this plot point in the first place. Although, being a pawn to the man who's basically one half of your being, while having no identity of your own is still pretty sad, too. I just wish they did more with that side of his character. He was half of Xehanort but also half of Terra, meaning he held memories from both, but none of them truly belonged to him. He quite literally had nothing.

 

[MysticMage10]

He used to be my favorite villain of the bunch, but after KH3 I kinda swapped to Ansem.

It just hit me pretty hard.

Yeah, ngl there was something that made me feel some type of way when I watched Ansem's death scene. Like, he was the very first villain in the series before the story derailed and introduced several other iterations of the same antagonist, but Ansem was always there along the way. And for his final send off, he tells the boys that "it's time to move on." Almost as if he's speaking to the player when he says that, it gets me every time.

Xemnas' death hits me in a different way though. Being my favorite villain, not to mention he's a tragic character in his own right (at least until DDD partially ruined that aspect of his character) and just having him feel completely empty and lonely after finally having gain a heart of his own is just so painful to watch, you just wanna give the poor guy a hug

 

[2 quid is good]

Same. The "plot twist" that was nobodies being able to grow new hearts after all and Xemnas just lied to everyone sort of ruined his character for me. It would've made him come off more sympathetic during his death scene had they never included this plot point in the first place.

Oh no, I don't mean this. I never felt this was a retcon by the way and I always thought this was obviously shown within KH2 itself with Axel and Roxas, we just got verbal clarification of it later. Also maybe I'm wrong but did we ever find out Xemnas "lied" to the Organisation? I always thought he genuinely believed in his plan. It *was* a shame to me in general that such strong villains in their own right would fall into lockstep with Master Xehanort just Because.

I can easily find myself enjoying the story of KH *until* 3D, I really do feel it was a major departure from the rest of the series. I can't put my finger exactly on why, the only concrete thing I can point towards is the different writers. One thing for sure is that after this point, characters felt a lot more flat and one note, which definitely applies to Xemnas imo

 

[Chie]

Also maybe I'm wrong but did we ever find out Xemnas "lied" to the Organisation? I always thought he genuinely believed in his plan. It *was* a shame to me in general that such strong villains in their own right would fall into lockstep with Master Xehanort just Because.

Sora accuses him of having lied and he doesn't deny it, it's heavily suggested. But honestly if you hold it up to scrutiny I'm not sure if it checks out - certainly the idea that he was lying to knowingly fulfill his part of Xehanort's giant plan definitely doesn't check out, so at the very least he did want to find out who he was/regain his own heart.

 

[PikaPal]

I mentioned this before in the Unpopular Opinions so small little recap:

Original vanilla version: Good villain but definitely needed more screen-time especially when commanding the rest of Organization XIII as a leader which the original version lacked aside from one single scene with Saix.

Final Mix version: Just perfect. The added material really helped out a lot even if he did love to take his time walking down a huge flight of stairs.

 

[EchoEvs]

Bro was the best. His voice was so damn hot!

 

[MysticMage10]

Bro was the best. His voice was so damn hot!

Arguably, he was the hottest character

 

[SweetYetSalty]

Xemnas is my favorite villain, even though he rarely does villainous acts directly. I definitely liked him more in KH2 and Days. That's not to say I didn't enjoy him in DDD and KH3, because I did. I just prefer his early motivations. Xemnas was always going to use Kingdom Hearts to try and take over the world, that was made clear by the end of KH2 when he went zebra-mode.

The whole "having hearts the whole time" thing doesn't bother me. Most of the Organization acted human anyway. What bugs me was the reveal that half the Organization are actually ancient Keyblade wielders and Xemnas knew about it. This contradicts so much of the early dynamics of the Organization. Not to mention he himself should be able to use a Keyblade, making him seek out Sora clones a waste of time. Honestly the more they reveal about the Orgs past the less consistent they feel.

But despite all the changes Xemnas still mostly feels like the same antagonist from the early games. The same can't be said for other Organization members who have been retconned into completely different characters. One thing I don't feel gets talked enough about Xemnas is how charismatic he is, especially at the meetings. The man knows what to say to get others to listen follow and give false hope of getting their hearts back. I think it's a trait the Xehanorts all share in some form or another but Xemnas really takes it to another level. He was manipulative but not cruel to his members directly which made him even more effective.