Lexaeus

Lexaeus, the Taciturn Stalwart (静かなる豪傑), is the Nobody of Aeleus and is Rank V within Organization XIII. He wields control over earth and uses his massive Skysplitter Axe Sword to create earthquakes and brutally slam opponents.

Lexaeus appears in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories during Riku's storyline, working with Zexion and Vexen to try and manipulate Riku into serving them. In contrast to his fighting style and physique, he is a disciplined schemer who tries to keep people such as Vexen in line. Lexaeus appears in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days as a playable character in Mission Mode. Tetsuya Nomura said that Lexaeus "has slow movement, but has very high attack power".

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
No. 5 in the Organization.

A born warrior, Lexaeus effortlessly brandishes a gigantic tomahawk.

To counterbalance his rival Marluxia's bid for Sora's power, Lexaeus tried to conquer Riku, but was defeated by Riku's dark powers.

Kingdom Hearts II
Formerly Organization XIII's Number V. He once brandished a giant tomahawk, but now he has been eliminated.

Lexaeus rejected Marluxia's bid to dominate the Organization, and formulated his own plans—but the plans failed and he met his end.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
No. V LEXAEUS

''Founding member. Tremendously strong, but surprisingly quiet—stalwart as the earth itself.''

Weapon: Axe Sword

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Lexaeus appears in the beginning tutorials of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Present when Xion joined the Organization, he trains Roxas in Twilight Town before being sent away to Castle Oblivion. While tutoring Roxas, it is Lexaeus's responsibility to teach Roxas how to utilize the Limit Break and survive battle with low HP. He strikes Roxas harshly in the face before the training session to put him on his "last legs". Roxas then has to battle a Mega-Shadow and correctly execute Event Horizon, his Limit. When Roxas defeats the Mega-Shadow, Lexaeus looks satisfied and both of them return to the castle.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Lexaeus first appears during Riku's storyline. He is heavily involved in the rivalry and strife within the Organization, which originates from spite between senior members of the Organization and younger members like Marluxia and Larxene.

When Larxene and Marluxia begin to show signs of dissent, displayed by their use of Naminé's unique power to meddle with Sora's memories, Zexion and Lexaeus begin monitoring the castle and the activities of the two traitors. Also active in the castle are Axel and Vexen, two other members of the Organization. Axel is too unpredictable to trust, Lexaeus himself stating early on that he cannot tell what Axel would be thinking, but Lexaeus and Zexion do enlist Vexen's help in spying on Marluxia. After learning the true extent of Marluxia's plans to make use of Sora's power by deceiving him into feeling complete loyalty to Naminé, thereby turning him into her puppet, they decide to counteract this plan by making similar use of Riku.

Vexen tries to make use of Riku's power by gathering data on him and creating a replica, but his experiments are interrupted. Though he succeeds in creating the replica, and also having Naminé alter his heart so that the Riku Replica forgets that he was created, and not born, he is killed by Axel on Marluxia's orders before he can achieve total control over it, and the replica becomes independent, searching for a heart of its own.

With Vexen gone and the replica no longer able to be utilized, Lexaeus consults with Zexion as to their next move. The two eventually decide that they would have to make use of the real Riku, but forcing him to submit to the darkness already inside of his heart. Lexaeus then takes matters into his own hands, and the Nobody appears to Riku shortly before Sora confronts Axel and Marluxia at the top floor of Castle Oblivion. He tries to sway the former puppet of "Ansem" to give in to the darkness inside him and use his full dark powers. Riku refuses to cooperate, so Lexaeus realizes his power, intending to consume Riku in darkness, making him unable to escape its clutches. As this effect does not come about imemdiately, Lexaeus takes Riku on, hoping to destroy him if he cannot be manipulated.

At this point, the story changes between versions. In Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, Lexaeus uses the last of his strength in an attempt to swallow Riku in darkness following the fight, resulting in his own demise. In the updated version though, the battle is close, and subsequently Lexaeus manages to knock Riku unconscious. However, Riku's defeat allows Ansem, Seeker of Darkness to take control and he vanquishes an unsuspecting Lexaeus. It is in this moment that Lexaeus realizes whom he was fighting and as he passes away, he apologizes to Zexion, stating this was a fight he shouldn't have started.

Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix
Lexaeus' Absent Silhouette appears before Sora in the Sandlot of Twilight Town after the Nobodies controlled by Saïx are destroyed.

Appearance
Lexaeus is easily the largest member of Organization XIII in terms of broadness, and his black cloak is similar to that of Vexen, with sleeves that are both wider and longer than average. He also wears the standard black boots and gloves worn by the rest of the Organization. Lexaeus has very angular and strong features, with a square chin, straight nose, and sharp cheekbones. He has blue eyes and somewhat small eyebrows. His hair is ginger and slicked back into messy spikes.

Personality
Lexaeus is the most undeveloped member of Organization XIII: that is, not much is known about him. What is known, however, is that he is intelligent and laconic, only speaking when he finds it necessary. He's probably the most physically powerful member of the Organization. This is shown in one scene in the novel where Axel begins trying to lift Lexaeus's tomahawk to tease him. When this happens, however, Axel (who is a fairly strong member) struggles to lift it up with both arms and remarks that it "weighs a ton" before Lexaeus effortlessly lifts it up with one arm. Another example of this is after Riku's battle with Lexaeus; even after taking such a beating, he was able to send Riku flying all the way to the ceiling of the room. On the other hand, he appears to be somewhat distrustful of the other members of Organization XIII, and is willing to step in to silence fights between the others.

It's also known that he's incredibly loyal to Zexion to the point that he can even be called Zexion's henchman due to Zexion's role as the mastermind whom decided to use Riku to counter Marluxia. This is demonstrated as he readily obeys Zexion's orders and before he dies he remarks, "Forgive me... Zexion".

He may also be considered as being friends with Zexion, as shown when Vexen and Zexion are arguing. On this occasion, Lexaeus quickly takes Zexion's side and criticizes Vexen's attitude, displeasing the other Nobody. They are also seen together many times; almost all of Lexaeus's appearances in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories are with Zexion, furthering this implication. Also, in the Secret Reports, he stated that Zexion is the only member in Castle Oblivion that he can trust.

Abilities
Lexaeus is exceptionally strong physically, as shown when he is able to knock Roxas into critical health just by whacking him over the head. He uses earth to reinforce his attacks. He regularly strikes at Riku using his enormous Axe Sword, and can hurl it into the air only to have it come down and flail about the combat area. He can also throw the Axe Sword directly at the foe, which boomerangs back to him. He also has the ability to force a rock out of the ground before shattering it, leaving the pieces to fly around and damage the enemy. Like several other Organization XIII members, Lexaeus has the ability to levitate, which is one of the few magical abilities he displays. He does have some other supernatural abilities, however; Lexaeus can strike the floor with such force that it tilts and sometimes even makes rocks fly up from the ground. Finally, he can strike the ground with such force that a damaging, unavoidable shock wave forms and spreads throughout the arena. He is incredibly tough and does not flinch from Riku's attacks after powering up, even becoming temporarily invincible if allowed to. However, he is always susceptible to special attacks, such as Riku's Dark Aura. Gaea's Gift is another one of Lexaeus's special abilities, his strength will increase 10x and he will become temporarily invincible to almost every attack Riku uses.

In Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Lexaeus returns as a secret boss battle along with the other slain Organization members from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. In the battle, Lexaeus and Sora each have a power meter that Lexaeus can increase. When Lexaeus increases his own meter, a large black, red, yellow, and purple aura powers up around him, protecting him from flinching, minimizing damage and pushing enemies away.

He is incredibly strong, able to throw Sora up into the air and then knock him back down, or knock Sora into a pillar and then slam him with his tomahawk. He uses a number of attacks with his tomahawk and earth, which increase in damage with his power meter. Furthermore, Lexaeus causes rocks to jut out of the ground with almost every attack, unlike the Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Lexaeus, which only occasionally heaves rocks out of the ground. Sora can use the Reaction Command Mega Impact (メガインパクト) to siphon the power away from Lexaeus onto himself.

In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Lexaeus has a Limit Break called Ayers Rock. During Ayers Rock, Lexaeus can perform a charged attack. Once the Limit Break begins, Lexaeus can charge his energy, as shown by a red aura around him; he then can release the stored energy in a powerful 180-degree swing, dealing devastating damage to the target. The attack is then followed up by a shock wave. The longer the player charges before releasing this attack, the stronger the attack will be. Depending on the amount charged, this attack can even be performed twice before obtaining Final Limits.

Alternatively, the player can choose not to charge this attack at all. If so, Lexaeus will perform a less powerful swing attack with his weapon. This can be done several times during one Limit Break.

During Lexaeus's Final Limit, Lexaeus's weapon becomes engulfed in rock before releasing the charged attack, increasing the strength and range of the attack by also adding a large addition of earth to the weapon length-wise.

His Limit Break is named after the giant stone formation in Central Australia, also known as "Uluru".

Weapon
Lexaeus uses a massive, heavy Axe Sword (referred to as a Tomahawk in Jiminy's Journal in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II), called Skysplitter, in battle. The Skysplitter is about a meter long, has a blue handle roughly as long as the blade made of black, red, and yellow metal, and appears to be laborious to use for anyone without extreme strength.

Lexaeus's attacks include mostly powerful single strikes and dives, which are often so strong that rocks are propelled out of the ground. He also has been known to throw his Axe Sword and have it boomerang back to him. Lexaeus's Axe Sword has a small Nobody symbol above the handle although it only has a single spike. In Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Donald can obtain a similar weapon.

Trivia

 * Lexaeus's elimination was altered in Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories. In the new version, he is destroyed after his fight with Riku when Ansem possesses Riku and easily finishes him off with a swift slash through the torso. In the original, he uses the last of his strength in an attempt to swallow Riku in darkness, resulting in his own demise. Either way, Riku is dragged into darkness.
 * Lexaeus's title was originally translated as "Silent Hero" in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, but was retranslated as "Taciturn Stalwart" for Kingdom Hearts -HD 1.5 ReMIX-. Despite the translation in 'Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX, it remained "Silent Hero" for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX''.