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Why Xehanort is like he is



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Memory Master

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Let me start by stating the obvious, most people who become villains do not start out evil, it is very rare for a villain to start out evil.

So one has to wonder why the hell is Xehanort evil? Well after examining Xehanort through out the series I may have the answer to this.

Let us go all the way back to Master Xehanort's days growing up on Destiny Islands. When he is first introduced as a young man standing on the shores of Destiny Islands he states clearly he wants to get off of his simple world.

Think about this folks, Destiny Islands is a tiny world and for the most part the people on the island seem content with their secluded lives. Xehanort on the other hand was born with a curiousity and determination for knowledge that would make it difficult for him to relate with anyone of his fellow islanders. With such a difference between him and the other islanders we could assume he may have been very lonely as he grew up. People on the island may have thought he was odd for expressing such theories as the existence of other worlds. Is it anyone wonder then, that he refers to Destiny Islands as a prison? To someone like him it surely would be.

Of course we know that at some point he was chosen by a Keyblade Master to train in the way of the Keyblade. Xehanort would certainly have jumped at the chance to ditch his little world. I can imagine Xehanort full of pride that he was right and the other islanders were wrong. So one would think that Xehanort probably left Destiny Islands with feelings of disgust toward the other islanders.

Once he became a Keyblade Apprentice he seemed content with his life for a short amount of time. However a curiosity such as Xehanort's could never be satisfied for long. That combined with his incredible determination was bound to lead to his next major step in life, defying his master.

Xehanort would often sneak off to visit other worlds without is master's knowing. The more Xehanort traveled the more he began to gain an interest in a new subject, darkness. I'm sure that Xehanort was warned by his master that darkness was dangerous and should be destroyed. However Xehanort, being the determined man he is, would have sought to prove himself above what he would consider the petty and ignorant fears of his fellow Keyblade wielders. So he discared his armor and embraced the power of darkness, eventually learning to control it.

As the years passed on and Xehanort and Eraqus' masters presumably passed away, Xehanort became more and more interested in the worlds, the heart, the realms, Kingdom Hearts, and of course as we know from BBS The Keyblade War. I think by this point since Xehanort has proven both his fellow islanders and his fellow Keyblade Wielders wrong, he thinks himself above everyone else and sees them as frightened fools contempt to live in their own blissful ignorance. I think it is this view of others that causes him to become detatched from compassion for other people and their well being.

Xehanort decides to spend his life seeking out knowledge and power to constantly prove himself better, and all others wrong. Going so far to even push the limits of what could be dangerous such as starting a second Keyblade War. Everytime someone like Eraqus tells him he can't do something, Xehanort in his attempt to prove them wrong only becomes more determined to accomplish the very thing he was told not to do.

By the time he becomes an elderly man Xehanort is still not satisfied with the amount of knowledge he has gained though it far surpasses even some Keyblade Masters. Not having realized all there is to know, the thought of dying at this point would mean the ultimate failure and so he becomes to determined to prolong his life by possesing another soley to continue his quest for knowledge.

Once he posseses Terra and becomes Ansem's apprentice, despite supposedly losing his memories, we still see the aspects of Master Xehanort's personality shine through. Ansem the Wise is too afraid to continue with the research on Kingdom Hearts, the worlds, and the heartless. So Xehanort is faced once again with the same situation he has faced his whole life. Someone is too afraid to seek knowledge and even forbiding Xehanort from seeking it, so to prove that person wrong Xehanort once again pushes forward and as we know the results were catastrophic. But let us also remember by this point Xehanort is far attached from compassion or concern for others, all he cares about at this point is being at the top, above everyone else, and being proved right and seen by everyone (Who he considers frightened and ignorant) for his glory of being right and them being wrong.

We even see this further down the line in KH2 when Xemnas is talking to Ansem. Xemnas says he is continuing what Ansem started and that all Ansem ever did was hold him back. To me this is a clear example of what i'm trying to describe in this thread.

So in conclusion Xehanort's obsession with being right, having all the answers, and reaching a level he would consider perfect, has warped his mind to the point where he believes that if he is right and all others are wrong, that it gives him the right to rule over all and that he is above all those people who in his mind are ignorant and cowardly. All of this spawned from a mix of curiosity, anger, and resentment.

So that is basically my observation of the main villain of this beloved series. I'm interested in seeing what others think of this.
 

wii.red24

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Nah he was probably raped as a small child and then bullied at school JK,(it had to be said lol) u make alot of very valid points about why Xehanort is the way he is Memory Master and holy shit u took all the time to write that out nice dude
 

Chaser

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Let me start by stating the obvious, most people who become villains do not start out evil, it is very rare for a villain to start out evil.
The entire musical "Wicked" just went through my mind when I read this.
Mostly this:
"Are people born Wicked? Or do they have Wickedness thrust upon them? After all, she had
a father. She had a mother, as so many do"

So one has to wonder why the hell is Xehanort evil? Well after examining Xehanort through out the series I may have the answer to this.

Let us go all the way back to Master Xehanort's days growing up on Destiny Islands. When he is first introduced as a young man standing on the shores of Destiny Islands he states clearly he wants to get off of his simple world.

Think about this folks, Destiny Islands is a tiny world and for the most part the people on the island seem content with their secluded lives. Xehanort on the other hand was born with a curiousity and determination for knowledge that would make it difficult for him to relate with anyone of his fellow islanders. With such a difference between him and the other islanders we could assume he may have been very lonely as he grew up. People on the island may have thought he was odd for expressing such theories as the existence of other worlds. Is it anyone wonder then, that he refers to Destiny Islands as a prison? To someone like him it surely would be.

Of course we know that at some point he was chosen by a Keyblade Master to train in the way of the Keyblade. Xehanort would certainly have jumped at the chance to ditch his little world. I can imagine Xehanort full of pride that he was right and the other islanders were wrong. So one would think that Xehanort probably left Destiny Islands with feelings of disgust toward the other islanders.

Once he became a Keyblade Apprentice he seemed content with his life for a short amount of time. However a curiosity such as Xehanort's could never be satisfied for long. That combined with his incredible determination was bound to lead to his next major step in life, defying his master.

Xehanort would often sneak off to visit other worlds without is master's knowing. The more Xehanort traveled the more he began to gain an interest in a new subject, darkness. I'm sure that Xehanort was warned by his master that darkness was dangerous and should be destroyed. However Xehanort, being the determined man he is, would have sought to prove himself above what he would consider the petty and ignorant fears of his fellow Keyblade wielders. So he discared his armor and embraced the power of darkness, eventually learning to control it.

As the years passed on and Xehanort and Eraqus' masters presumably passed away, Xehanort became more and more interested in the worlds, the heart, the realms, Kingdom Hearts, and of course as we know from BBS The Keyblade War. I think by this point since Xehanort has proven both his fellow islanders and his fellow Keyblade Wielders wrong, he thinks himself above everyone else and sees them as frightened fools contempt to live in their own blissful ignorance. I think it is this view of others that causes him to become detatched from compassion for other people and their well being.

Xehanort decides to spend his life seeking out knowledge and power to constantly prove himself better, and all others wrong. Going so far to even push the limits of what could be dangerous such as starting a second Keyblade War. Everytime someone like Eraqus tells him he can't do something, Xehanort in his attempt to prove them wrong only becomes more determined to accomplish the very thing he was told not to do.

By the time he becomes an elderly man Xehanort is still not satisfied with the amount of knowledge he has gained though it far surpasses even some Keyblade Masters. Not having realized all there is to know, the thought of dying at this point would mean the ultimate failure and so he becomes to determined to prolong his life by possesing another soley to continue his quest for knowledge.

Once he posseses Terra and becomes Ansem's apprentice, despite supposedly losing his memories, we still see the aspects of Master Xehanort's personality shine through. Ansem the Wise is too afraid to continue with the research on Kingdom Hearts, the worlds, and the heartless. So Xehanort is faced once again with the same situation he has faced his whole life. Someone is too afraid to seek knowledge and even forbiding Xehanort from seeking it, so to prove that person wrong Xehanort once again pushes forward and as we know the results were catastrophic. But let us also remember by this point Xehanort is far attached from compassion or concern for others, all he cares about at this point is being at the top, above everyone else, and being proved right and seen by everyone (Who he considers frightened and ignorant) for his glory of being right and them being wrong.

We even see this further down the line in KH2 when Xemnas is talking to Ansem. Xemnas says he is continuing what Ansem started and that all Ansem ever did was hold him back. To me this is a clear example of what i'm trying to describe in this thread.

So in conclusion Xehanort's obsession with being right, having all the answers, and reaching a level he would consider perfect, has warped his mind to the point where he believes that if he is right and all others are wrong, that it gives him the right to rule over all and that he is above all those people who in his mind are ignorant and cowardly. All of this spawned from a mix of curiosity, anger, and resentment.

So that is basically my observation of the main villain of this beloved series. I'm interested in seeing what others think of this.
I thought all of this was basically confirmed within the games and Xehanort reports?
 

Reagan Rayden

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Xehanort's Reports in BBS pretty much explain why he turned out "evil". Although the connection between that and Xemnas rebelling against Ansem the Wise wasn't there. I never really thought of that.

But yeah, to those that have that mindset that people become evil "just 'cuz" can see this and realize that people are evil for a big reason in their life. For Xehanort it was just the pure search of forbidden knowledge and basically the struggle to prove everyone telling him not to fly too close to the sun wrong as you said.

Although there are those (such as Xehanort's Heartless) that are born with evil in them. Without a real reasoning as to why they're that way. Although with Ansem SoD he was the way he is because of Xehanort's influence of the search for knowledge and attaining that knowledge without any thought of consequence.
 

Ikkin

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Everything you've said makes a ton of sense, and is based firmly in what the game itself tells us about Xehanort, but it seems to be missing a piece:

If Xehanort's actions are purely a result of misguided curiosity and contempt for those who hinder him, why does he enjoy humiliating his victims so much? Master Xehanort gets awfully excited when he's rubbing Terra's nose in everything, and Ansem SoD does the same thing to Riku. He doesn't just lack empathy as much as he's actively sadistic, and nothing in Xehanort's backstory really explains that part of it.
 

Memory Master

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Everything you've said makes a ton of sense, and is based firmly in what the game itself tells us about Xehanort, but it seems to be missing a piece:

If Xehanort's actions are purely a result of misguided curiosity and contempt for those who hinder him, why does he enjoy humiliating his victims so much? Master Xehanort gets awfully excited when he's rubbing Terra's nose in everything, and Ansem SoD does the same thing to Riku. He doesn't just lack empathy as much as he's actively sadistic, and nothing in Xehanort's backstory really explains that part of it.

Those who oppose Xehanort obviously think he is wrong. So if he can humiliate those he thinks are either to naive or too afraid then of course he is going to humiliate them because that is part of the satisfaction over being right and your enemy being wrong.
 

Sephiroth0812

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Everything you've said makes a ton of sense, and is based firmly in what the game itself tells us about Xehanort, but it seems to be missing a piece:

If Xehanort's actions are purely a result of misguided curiosity and contempt for those who hinder him, why does he enjoy humiliating his victims so much? Master Xehanort gets awfully excited when he's rubbing Terra's nose in everything, and Ansem SoD does the same thing to Riku. He doesn't just lack empathy as much as he's actively sadistic, and nothing in Xehanort's backstory really explains that part of it.

I have to agree with that, overboarding curiosity and even some contempt does not lead to such fits of outright cruelty.
Whenever someone is in pain Xehanort sports a gleeful grin and revels in it, that's not lack of empathy but outright sadism.


Those who oppose Xehanort obviously think he is wrong. So if he can humiliate those he thinks are either to naive or too afraid then of course he is going to humiliate them because that is part of the satisfaction over being right and your enemy being wrong.

Being satisfied over being (supposedly) right can of course lead to some gloating or "I told you so"-vibes, but outight sadistically bringing down people and even revel in their suffering, even of total innocent ones? That seems to be really stretching it and actually gives away the impression that Xehanort has a few screws loose.
 

Ikkin

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Those who oppose Xehanort obviously think he is wrong. So if he can humiliate those he thinks are either to naive or too afraid then of course he is going to humiliate them because that is part of the satisfaction over being right and your enemy being wrong.

There's a difference between that "ha, serves you right!" sort of schadenfreude that normal people feel when those who'd doubted them are proven wrong and Xehanort's intentional campaign of humiliation against kids who are naive enough to trust him, though. He doesn't just mock people for failing, either -- he gains their trust, uses them against their will and then insists they wanted it all along, preying on their own guilt to manipulate them further, and he enjoys every second of it. There's a reason the "Pedonort" meme is a thing, and it's not just because he has weird facial expressions (though those certainly don't help matters when they accompany him being sadistic).
 

Memory Master

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There's a difference between that "ha, serves you right!" sort of schadenfreude that normal people feel when those who'd doubted them are proven wrong and Xehanort's intentional campaign of humiliation against kids who are naive enough to trust him, though. He doesn't just mock people for failing, either -- he gains their trust, uses them against their will and then insists they wanted it all along, preying on their own guilt to manipulate them further, and he enjoys every second of it. There's a reason the "Pedonort" meme is a thing, and it's not just because he has weird facial expressions (though those certainly don't help matters when they accompany him being sadistic).

Well I think it's kind of like, if a boy who is really smart grows up in a family or around friends who thinks he wont amount to anything despite the fact he's smart, or more specifically if he is great in the academic arena but his family think he's lazy if he doesn't go into a more physical labor oriented career since that would be the strerotypical career for a boy. The boy will obviously grow up with resentment and will try to become sucesfull and gain power and influence in the world to prove his family wrong, but he goes a step beyond that to flat out revenge on the family and friends who put him down and held him back and just got on his nerves.

Xehanort is kind of like that. Told to follow the typical way of the Keyblade Wielder even though the man is a genius and wanted to do so much more. He wanted to go beyond the average keyblade wielder, and the average scientist. After years of this annoyance from others he goes beyond just humiliating them, he delights in mocking his enemies and those that oppose him, he uses them and finds a sick satisfaction from their suffering because in his mind he feels like they deserve it, because he is above them in his mind. His frustration over being held back by so many people is released through torturing his enemies, that is his release. Its alot of ways he has an elitist attitude toward everyone. Since he sees them as less than himself he uses them like tools and for his sick amusement when he makes them suffer, because to him all they are is tools.

Terra was a tool to prolong Xehanort's life, Ven and Vanitas were tools to forge the X-Blade, Riku was a tool to get a physical form again, Roxas, Xion, and Sora were tools to complete the artificial KH, so on and so forth.

If I think I know Xehanort like I think I do, then I kind of relate somewhat to the guy, maybe that is why he is one of my favorite villains in any series.

Well atleast its something to think about.
 

Ikkin

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Well I think it's kind of like, if a boy who is really smart grows up in a family or around friends who thinks he wont amount to anything despite the fact he's smart, or more specifically if he is great in the academic arena but his family think he's lazy if he doesn't go into a more physical labor oriented career since that would be the strerotypical career for a boy. The boy will obviously grow up with resentment and will try to become sucesfull and gain power and influence in the world to prove his family wrong, but he goes a step beyond that to flat out revenge on the family and friends who put him down and held him back and just got on his nerves.

Xehanort is kind of like that. Told to follow the typical way of the Keyblade Wielder even though the man is a genius and wanted to do so much more. He wanted to go beyond the average keyblade wielder, and the average scientist. After years of this annoyance from others he goes beyond just humiliating them, he delights in mocking his enemies and those that oppose him, he uses them and finds a sick satisfaction from their suffering because in his mind he feels like they deserve it, because he is above them in his mind. His frustration over being held back by so many people is released through torturing his enemies, that is his release. Its alot of ways he has an elitist attitude toward everyone. Since he sees them as less than himself he uses them like tools and for his sick amusement when he makes them suffer, because to him all they are is tools.

Terra was a tool to prolong Xehanort's life, Ven and Vanitas were tools to forge the X-Blade, Riku was a tool to get a physical form again, Roxas, Xion, and Sora were tools to complete the artificial KH, so on and so forth.

If I think I know Xehanort like I think I do, then I kind of relate somewhat to the guy, maybe that is why he is one of my favorite villains in any series.

Well atleast its something to think about.

...I think I'm kind of scared of you now, if that's what you relate to. ;)

Seriously, though, when you spell it out like that it makes him sound even more serial killer-ish. Xehanort isn't some victim of circumstance, a decent person who would have turned out fine if only the people around him hadn't insisted on holding him back. He considers nothing important but his own desires and chafes at the very concept of a constraint, rendering him inherently incapable of existing as a functional member of society. The resentment and contempt he feels for everything that "holds him back" is an inescapable part of his character, not the result of anything anyone else did to him, because there will always be something trying to do that, from basic decency to the boundaries of the World itself. Xehanort's desire for pushing limits is so insatiable that nothing could ever be good enough for him, like some sort of black hole of curiosity.

But I still think there's a pretty big leap between contempt and outright sadism, especially since the latter doesn't really seem to have existed when Xehanort still had actual people hindering him (since his Master and his brother pupil Eraqus probably would have noticed and intervened if he treated anyone that badly while he was still with him). Plus, Xehanort doesn't even show any particular interest in revenge against the people responsible for that! He doesn't seem to find it particularly enjoyable when he shows up Eraqus and scars his face when Eraqus actually tries to stop him by force, all his attention after he kills Eraqus is on hurting Terra, and he shows no signs whatsoever that he cares to act against Destiny Islands more than any other world. Riku and Axel both get scenes where they seem to be acting out of frustration/for revenge, and they look nothing like the way Xehanort acts.

More than hating those who hinder him, Xehanort seem to revel in hurting people who are vulnerable and unable to fight back. Maybe he's contemptuous of weakness and is driven to cause "weak" people pain (...maybe he sees a reflection of something he hates in himself in them? Or, alternatively, a reflection of how he thinks others want him to be?). But Xehanort doesn't lash out at the people who caused his distress -- he's actually less interested in messing with them, as far as I can see.
 
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