Marluxia

Marluxia, the Graceful Assassin, is number XI in Organization XIII and the lord of Castle Oblivion. Originally discovered by senior Organization members Xigbar and Xaldin, he is the mastermind of an internal rebellion in the Organization against Xemnas, and Sora's final boss of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. In battle, he wields a large scythe and he uses the power of flowers, evident by him being surrounded by sakura petals and other flower themed attacks. Fans often mistake his element for being "Death" because of his scythe, commonly associated with the Grim Reaper.

Marluxia will make an appearance in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. He will be a playable character in the multiplayer mode.

Sora's Arrival
Marluxia first appears in the series at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, when Sora first enters Castle Oblivion, making him normally the first Organization member to appear in the series (although the Enigmatic Man is a secret boss in Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix). Marluxia, still cloaked and hooded, explains to Sora that the Castle has made him forget all of his spells and abilities, and instructs him in the use of cards to fight. He also enters into battle with Sora, although he makes it very easy and it is only an instructional fight. After giving Sora a set of World Cards to begin climbing the floors of the castle, Marluxia leaves Sora to fend for himself.

Dissent in the Organization
Marluxia, working with Larxene and Vexen, plots to overthrow the Organization. They formulate a plan to use a young girl named Naminé, who has a mysterious power over memory, to deceive Sora into thinking he had sworn to protect her, and then have her use Sora to help them defeat the senior Organization members. This plot stems from a rivalry between some of the younger Organization members and the original six core members. Vexen, Larxene, and another Organization member Axel all do their part to feed Sora with information and lure him further into the castle. Each of them fight him on their own, although none of them use their full strength and throw the fights. They also make use of Vexen's Riku replica to compete with Sora for Naminé's loyalty.

Marluxia and Larxene eventually learn that Vexen has been reporting back to Zexion and Lexaeus regarding their revolt. After Vexen loses control of the Riku Replica, Marluxia pronounces his project a failure, claiming that his mastery over Castle Oblivion allows him the authority to do so. Marluxia threatens to tell "the Superior" of Vexen's failure, but Vexen pleads with him not to do so. Marluxia agrees not to if Vexen eliminates Sora. Although confused by the order, Vexen agrees, and heads Sora off in the Twilight Town world. He fights Sora for the second time, but is again defeated. Before he can reveal Marluxia's plans to use Sora, however, Axel strikes him from behind on Marluxia's orders, making Vexen the first Organization member to be eliminated.

Failure of the Plot
Axel's assassination of Vexen allows him to gain the full trust of Marluxia and Larxene. As Sora nears the top floors of the castle, Axel is left alone with Naminé to keep watch over her. Instead of keeping an eye on her, Axel allows her to escape, freeing her from Marluxia's control and ending her continued restructuring of Sora's memories, effectively ruining the plot to manipulate Sora into fighting the Organization. This prompts Larxene to attack Sora shortly after he defeats the Riku replica for the final time, but she is killed in the struggle, leaving only Marluxia to carry out the plot. Sora finds Axel and Marluxia on the top floor of the castle, squaring off to fight. Marluxia makes Naminé appear in front of him as a shield to prevent Axel from attacking him, but Axel laughs it off, saying he's willing to go through Naminé to get to Marluxia. Marluxia then tells Sora that Axel is going to hurt her and vanishes, leaving Sora and Axel alone. Axel sneers at Sora for having become Marluxia's puppet after all, but Sora resolves to eliminate Marluxia right after he finishes Axel. The two fight, and Sora comes out the victor, but Axel escapes death and vanishes.

Death
Sora pursues Marluxia into his inner chambers and attacks him. He destroys him, but finds that the real Marluxia had been hiding in an back room and that his opponent had only been a copy. Sora advances into the final room to confront Marluxia, who has combined with a large machine-like Nobody, wielding a power Sora and his friends can sense through the doorway leading into the chamber. Sora defeats him again in the storyline's final battle, making Marluxia the fourth Organization member to fall.

Personality
Marluxia is quite deceptive in nature. He makes an attempt to betray the organization by using Sora as puppet to accomplish his goals. He also appears very arrogant; he takes great pride in the way he appears and walks. Evident by the sakura petals that he often has appear around him. At the same time, during battle, he uses unique tactics including a death counter and he even has Sora fight a replica of himself before the final battle.

Most of all though, Marluxia seems to have an obsession with his superiority over the other organization members. Being the lord of castle oblivion, Marluxia commands the other members of the organization on many occasions. He even threatens Vexen by using his fear of Xemnas against him. Marluxia inherently has a manipulative, egotistical personality and he will stop at nothing to prove his superiorty over others.

Perhaps his personality is based on the irony it creates with his element. Flowers are usually symbolic of positive aspects, however his personality is quite the opposite. In fact, it is much more similar to the symbolism involved with his weapon, a scythe.

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version, Marluxia was voiced by popular seiyuu Shuuichi Ikeda, who was famous as the voice of Char Aznable of Gundam fame as the series' first antagonist. He provided the dub voice for the Fox on Disney's the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
 * In Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, Marluxia summons his scythe by catching a single falling sakura (cherry blossom) petal in his raised, open hand. However, in the PS2 version (Re:CoM), the petal more resembles that of a rose.
 * In the manga, Marluxia does not use alternate forms and is easily killed by Sora in their first battle.