Young Xehanort

Young Xehanort is Master Xehanort's younger self when he was a teenager. He was given the power to travel through and manipulate time itself by his future Heartless to help his older self accomplish his goal of assembling and containing his essence in thirteen different vessels.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
A mysterious figure whose origins, identity, and purpose are unclear.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
''Xehanort in his early years. He has traveled through time to guide Sora toward a ghastly fate.''

Kingdom Hearts III
A member of the real Organization XIII.

''This is Master Xehanort's younger self. He has traveled forward through time more than once in order to guide Sora.''

Pre-Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
In his youth, Xehanort, who once lived on Destiny Islands, had dreams of leaving his home in search for something greater. One day, he was approached by a hooded figure, who told him of the future and how his future self had given him a task. The figure then gave Xehanort the power to time travel and collect all of his other incarnations. Xehanort agreed to do this, not knowing at the time that the figure he was talking to was a version of himself. Once Xehanort had finished his role in the future, his heart returned to its proper place in time without any memories of the experiences he had in the future. However, they would remain etched in his heart, granting him the desire to leave his home and eventually become a Keyblade Master.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
As Terra, Ventus, and Aqua return separately to Land of Departure's remains, they turn around when they feel a presence and find a hooded figure who challenges them to a battle. After the battle, they seem to have lost sight of the mysterious figure, and prepare to walk away when they spot him again, but he only walks away in the direction of the castle and disappears, fading out of sight.

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
Not long after the defeat of Xemnas, the human counterparts of the first eight members of Organization XIII reappear in Ansem's Lab in Radiant Garden. The first to awaken is Braig, being done so by the time-traveling Young Xehanort. Remarking that things were back on track, Braig soon chats with Young Xehanort on the latter's future self's intentions before asking the youth which of the comatose apprentices to take with them. Young Xehanort smiles, and picks Saïx.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Young Xehanort appears numerous times to Sora and Riku during their Mark of Mastery exam as they traverse the Realm of Sleep and awaken several worlds previously destroyed by "Ansem". During these appearances, Young Xehanort would taunt the two as he recruited other versions of himself throughout time and space to complete the real Organization XIII under Master Xehanort's orders. The original Organization XIII was meant to recruit thirteen strong beings to be used to make clones of Master Xehanort through the process of transferring portions of his heart into their bodies, but the first generation of Nobodies consisted of many failures. A majority of the original members were either traitorous to the Organization, were too weak for their purpose, or were simply distrustful. Young Xehanort then embarked on his mission to find suitable replacements; various versions of himself, throughout time. To this end, Xehanort recruited Ansem and Xemnas to the new Organization.

As the story progresses, it is revealed that Ansem once traveled back in time and set this younger version of his former incarnation on his journey as a fail safe should Xemnas' Organization XIII prove to be useless in his plans. After Sora fights Xemnas which damages the former's heart, Young Xehanort puts him into a deep sleep, planning to use him as the final vessel in his new Organization XIII. Sora is taken to the Organization's former headquarters in The World that Never Was, while Riku and King Mickey attempt to save him. Young Xehanort impedes their attempts and engages Riku in a brutal fight with his newly-acquired Keyblade, where Riku comes through victorious, but Master Xehanort returns immediately after the fight to assume control over his new army. Young Xehanort takes his place among the ranks under his older self's rule and escapes with all his counterparts, once Riku, Mickey, Lea, Donald, and Goofy prevented Master Xehanort from transferring a portion of his heart into Sora to make him his final vessel.

Kingdom Hearts III
Young Xehanort appears in Toy Box, studying the World's unique quirk of toys having hearts. He first splits the World in two, similarly to what happened during Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery exam, to see how the toys would react with most of their friends gone. He then allowed the friendship between Woody and Buzz to strain so he could manipulate the darkness coming from Buzz's insecurities. Although Woody, Sora, Donald and Goofy managed to free Buzz from his control, Young Xehanort learned that even things like toys could be potential vessels for their needs. He then told Sora to find the hearts joined to his before disappearing, but not before summoning the King of Toys, a large Heartless.

Young Xehanort later appears in the Keyblade Graveyard, appearing in front of Master Xehanort, Ansem, and Xemnas with Vanitas; Vanitas comments that once the Guardians have been broken by battle upon battle, the χ-blade can be complete, with Young Xehanort adding that it is what they must do, for it has been "etched". The five darknesses soon unleash a massive swarm of Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed to attack the Guardians.

During Sora's attempt to use the power of waking to rescue his fellow Guardians from the Lich after their defeat by Terra-Xehanort and a Heartless swarm, Young Xehanort appears before him and Jiminy Cricket in San Fransokyo. He comments that his gallivanting through the Sleeping Worlds has taught him nothing, and that he nearly buried himself in the depths of sleep, contrasting it with Sora's current situation. He explains that the Lich he has been fighting was unlike any Heartless he had previous encountered, for its existence was to usher hearts down into the abyss of darkness, telling Sora that he would condemn his heart to that same abyss should he continue chasing it. When Sora claims his heart was strong, Young Xehanort asks him what he thinks the power of waking is, revealing that it was for traversing hearts to reach other worlds, not the other way around. He adds that misusing such a power would come at a great cost, to which Sora sarcastically questions if he was now worried about him, although Young Xehanort remarks that there was no saving him. Before leaving through a corridor of darkness, Young Xehanort tells Sora that the price has been paid, and it lies as the bottom of the abyss before disappearing.

Young Xehanort later walks with the rest of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness as they confront the Guardians at the crossroads of the Keyblade Graveyard before Master Xehanort creates the Skein of Severance. Young Xehanort fights alongside Ansem and Xemnas atop the Tower of Endings against Sora, Riku and King Mickey as one of the last battles fought in the Second Keyblade War. After being defeated, he falls to the ground, laughing. Sora asks what was funny, to which Young Xehanort remarks that there's a high price to pay for all of this. When asked what that would be, Young Xehanort stands back up, saying that he will go back to his time to live out his life, but tells Sora that his journey has reached its end. As he told a satirical goodbye to Sora, he tells him that his time was up, although he is cut off as his Replica body fades away while his heart returns back to its proper place in time.

A fragmentary passage
Young Xehanort is shown as the first incarnation before both "Ansem" and Xemnas, and appears in his elderly form after them.

Physical appearance
Young Xehanort has mildly tanned skin with pointed ears, golden eyes, and silver hair. Originally however, he had silver eyes and his ears weren't pointed. His hair slightly spikes and falls past his shoulders in the back. He has four bangs framing his face, similar to Terra-Xehanort when he became Ansem the Wise's apprentice.

When he lived on Destiny Islands, Young Xehanort wore the same style of white shirt similar to his future self and Heartless, a black vest with a high collar, long armbands which cover his forearms, and dark grey pants stuffed into his boots. When he acquires the power to time travel, Young Xehanort acquires a Replica body from the future in order to remain during his travels. Since his heart is within a Replica, it is modeled after him physically, although he wears a black coat.

In Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, Young Xehanort's body is completely covered by a hooded Black Coat with a fairly tall and masculine build. He never speaks at any point of the game.

Abilities
Young Xehanort wields many incredibly formidable abilities that makes him an extremely powerful foe to behold. He was granted the power of space-time manipulation by "Ansem", which he uses to great effect; for example, he recovered from the effect of Mickey's most powerful Stop spell within mere moments, far faster than any of his comrades. He can manipulate time so precisely that he is capable of controlling time to achieve a myriad of effects while in battle, performing such feats as slowing his opponent or reversing the flow of time to regenerate health. During his battle with Riku, Young Xehanort would merge with the clock in the arena and if enough time has been given, could restore a decent amount of health by rewinding time. Like his older self, he is an extremely powerful magic user, capable of casting many of the most powerful spells available to all the protagonists of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, with the addition of being able to use Doom, and he can cast powerful fire, wind and ice spells that project fiery vortexes, summon tornadoes and fire several large ice blocks. His telekinetic prowess is capable of easily throwing around Riku and Mickey.

In every boss encounter, Xehanort is immune to all status effects and displays outstanding swordsmanship skills as well as great speed and agility, wielding first his dual-blades to perform many deadly attacks, also displaying proficiency with the whip and spear form the weapons can undertake by fusing them together, and later his Keyblade to quickly unleash a flurry of combos capable of trapping and quickly dealing heavy damage to Riku, with him also making effective use of his ability to transform it into a shield and whip. In Birth By Sleep, Young Xehanort is also capable of turning himself invisible and firing lasers. In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, he can enter the World of Sleep, summon Dream Eaters, open Keyholes and the Corridors of Darkness.

Weapons


He wields two weapons that bear a striking resemblance to Xemnas's Ethereal Blades, but appear to have hilts, which many of Xemnas's blades do not, but they also resemble some clock hands or clock arrows. The blades are made of light blue energy and the black handles are somewhat reminiscent of the Terminus and Ruination Ethereal Blades. The blades can be combined into a dual-blade, and extend to be lashed out like a whip. Young Xehanort wields these weapons with a reverse grip, similar to the unorthodox way Ventus wields his Keyblade.

While not able to wield a Keyblade in his initial appearance, when he is possessed by Master Xehanort while battling Riku in Where Nothing Gathers, Young Xehanort wields a Keyblade that incorporates elements of the No Name and The Gazing Eye Keyblades. By the time of his second appearance he now possess the ability to wield a Keyblade without assistance.

Notes and references
Jeune Xehanort Junger Xehanort