Why are Xemnas and Ansem SoD so much older than Apprentice Xehanort?

[Draxem]

Nobodies don't age, or at least we've been under the impression that they don't for a while, so why does Xemnas and Ansem look literally 10 years older than Apprentice Xehanort? They look even older than Terra and they only came into being a year after the events of BBS so surely they shouldn't look that old. I doubt Apprenticenort was on the bulk or going to the gym so much that he gained 10 years before becoming Xemnas. Not sure why I've never questioned this before, someone else must have and I'm expecting a nice straight forward answer, hopefully not just "Nomura."

Thanks guys.

 

[Antifa Lockhart]

The nobodies not aging rule was something Nomura mentioned once in an interview but was never established within the series to be canon.

That rule was shot to death the moment it was spoken, if you just look at Namine. Of course, she's a special nobody, and so is roxas and etc, etc yadda yadda. Well, if that's the case so is Xemnas. Also, Xigbar and Saix and Zexion and Axel are all shown to be much older than their original counterparts anyway. One could argue that if it is a rule then all these nobodies could be exceptions, but that just seems unlikely.

The rule never made any sense, so yeah I'm sorry it is a true example of Nomura dropping the ball.

 

[Draxem]

That's funny given the conversation in the other thread haha. Fair enough, case closed.

 

[Ruran]

Tinny already answered the question, though just to drop my two cents, personally this is why I regard the interviews as second tier canon followed by the games. They're usually regarded on the same level, but where as the information is more or less set in stone in the games, the interviews are more supplementary material and can be contradicted and overwritten, especially since the series is incomplete and Nomura is liable to change his mind.

I haven't read some of these interviews in 5ever, but I think if you read some of the earlier interviews for some specific games, you can see where ideas clearly changed. Like I think in one of the earlier interviews for Days it was mentioned that when Roxas and Riku met at the Memory Skyscraper, you were supposed to "get the sense that Roxas summoned him (Riku) there", though that's clearly no longer the case.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I'd like to add that Nomura was never actually wrong about his statement that Nobodies don't age because they have no heart. It was later revealed in KH3D that Nobodies can, in fact, grow hearts under the right conditions. Xemnas was confirmed by Nomura himself to probably be 30 years old in a Days interview, and if we take in account that 10 years have passed since BBS when Terra was around 20 years, Xemnas aged exactly as he was supposed to if he had been human.

Paired with the fact that Nomura stated in an interview that Xemnas could wield a Keyblade but chose not to was one of many clues that were supposed to lead fans to an obvious point he had been leading up to since KH2.

The only way a person can wield a Keyblade is if they have a heart. The only way one can age is if they have a heart. Ergo, that would have to mean that Xemnas had a heart.

Slap that logic on the rest of the Organization, then we have our answer. They all seem to have aged between 5-10 years, which probably was due to how slow or fast their burgeoning hearts were growing.

As for SoD...haha, that probably has something to do with Master Xehanort's influence on the heart within the Heartless.

 

[Draxem]

Paired with the fact that Nomura stated in an interview that Xemnas could wield a Keyblade but chose not to was one of many clues that were supposed to lead fans to an obvious point he had been leading up to since KH2.

He never directly said that he could wield though, it has been implied. My main problem with Xemnas's ability to wield is why the fuck wouldn't he use it in DDD?

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

He never directly said that he could wield though, it has been implied. My main problem with Xemnas's ability to wield is why the diddly wouldn't he use it in DDD?

Why would he need to say it? The fact he even mentioned it at all was all the confirmation needed.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

He never directly said that he could wield though, it has been implied. My main problem with Xemnas's ability to wield is why the diddly wouldn't he use it in DDD?

That's the case with many things within the series though as Solo already explained in another thread about Roxas and Ven's heart/his own heart.
Nomura leaves such things open 90% of times and only implies things ever since KH 2, it's very rare that Nomura outright confirms something directly like he did in the DDD Ultimania:

— It was declared from Ansem the Wise’s own mouth that everything can grow a heart.
Nomura: Yes it was, I thought I’d leave it clear in this title.

This issue has been vaguely hinted at at various points since Chain of Memories, but outright confirmation was never given until that point above.

On Xemnas' ability to wield and him not using it in DDD:

Having the ability to wield does not necessarily mean that there is also a Keyblade available to wield.
Riku always had the ability, but he would have no Keyblade to actually truly wield until he gained his Way to Dawn.
Terra's Keyblade is with the Lingering Will, Eraqus' with Aqua leaving only possibly MX's Keyblade, but since MX's heart was with Ansem SoD and it is explicitly stated (by Riku during his confrontation with Ansem) that Xehanort "lost" the Keyblade when splitting into Ansem and Xemnas.

 

[Zebedy]

The nobodies not aging rule was something Nomura mentioned once in an interview but was never established within the series to be canon.

One could argue it's been established with Ventus. The reason he isn't aging is because his heart is not in his body. This would lead credence to the "Nobodies don't age" thing, with maybe the caveat that if the Nobody starts nurturing a heart of their own, they do.

Though it definitely hasn't been treated consistently at all over the series.

As for why Xemnas doesn't wield the Keyblade, KH3D reveals that he lost the Keyblade when Xehanort became a Heartless.

 

[Draxem]

One could argue it's been established with Ventus. The reason he isn't aging is because his heart is not in his body. This would lead credence to the "Nobodies don't age" thing, with maybe the caveat that if the Nobody starts nurturing a heart of their own, they do.

Though it definitely hasn't been treated consistently at all over the series.

As for why Xemnas doesn't wield the Keyblade, KH3D reveals that he lost the Keyblade when Xehanort became a Heartless.

Ventus didn't lose his heart to darkness, he's not a nobody despite not having a heart.

 

[Zebedy]

Ventus didn't lose his heart to darkness, he's not a nobody despite not having a heart.

I didn't say he was. I was pointing out that the reason why he doesn't age is because his heart isn't in his body, and something similar could be said about Nobodies. I wasn't saying he was a Nobody.

 

[Gram]

I figured why they all showed age, especially Zexion who was by far the youngest in bbs, was cause they all had began to show signs of a heart given Xemnas' line:

Though there was variances in our dispositions, but a number of us unquestionably showed signs of a burgeoning replacement.

I took this to mean that most of the human like nobodies of the org had already began forming the replacements to the hearts they lost and thus why some appear older while others, like say Vexen, appear the same.

As for why Ansem appeared older well that's kinda hard to say really. He didn't have an actual body and thus human form till he stole Riku's body so logically he shouldn't have aged.
Though given he was born of a combination of an two old men and one young one it's likely we were seeing Xehanort bleeding through a bit in the appearance thus the aged look.

 

[NeoshadowXC]

Ansem SOD and Xemnas are probably 30, and Terranort is probably 20. Remember he aged 10 years before giving up his heart and becoming Ansem SOD and Xemnas, so the math works. And after that there wasn't much time for them to age anyways, since the events that unfolded after only took 1-2 years.

 

[Alecs27]

I think that Ansem SoD looks like a 30 years old Master Xehanort, while Xemnas looks like a 30 years old Terra with an influence of Xehanort.
One thing is simple though Xehanort Apprentice's appearence has nothing to do with those guys. xD

 

[kmorris2609]

Axel and Saix look older than Lea and Isa, though I'm not sure when exactly they became nobodies. I just think that it is either Nomura or something else that we just don't understand yet. If you think about it, all of the apprentices seen in BBS look older as their Nobodies. Maybe darkness has something to do with it.