Xehanort



Xehanort was a student of Ansem the Wise. The exploits of his Heartless and his Nobody are the basis of conflict in the Kingdom Hearts series. His name is an anagram of "no heart" or "another" with an added "X".

Ansem's apprentice
Xehanort was found in the paradise world of Radiant Garden by Ansem the Wise, a respected sage and the ruler of the world. Xehanort possessed no memory of his life before this, but it is mentioned that he appeared when a Great Keyblade War ended. Ansem took Xehanort in and he became Ansem's foremost apprentice. Xehanort was described by Ansem as having abilities so remarkable that they could be considered supernatural.

Eventually, Ansem began to worry about the darkness that lingers within the hearts of others and sought a way to stop it before it consumed his people. Ansem, at the suggestion of Ienzo constructed a laboratory under his castle where he, Xehanort, and Ansem's five other assistants would conduct experiments on darkness. Xehanort, who Ansem now fully trusts as an apprentice and friend, offered to use himself in the experiments. Ansem also hoped to unlock Xehanort's memories in addition to uncovering a way to repress the darkness within hearts. Xehanort had other plans in mind though.

Xehanort and the other five apprentices began to carry out their own experiments. They abducted countless people and locked them within the depths of the laboratory. Xehanort then conducted horrible experiments on the subjects. This eventually led to the creation of creatures of darkness, which Xehanort named "The Heartless". At this point, Xehanort had taken Ansem's name as his own and wrote his own report under this stolen name. Xehanort took one of the heartless aside and observed its' behavior. The heartless began to move throughout the castle until a door appeared. Xehanort was somehow able to open it and this led to the collapse of the world's boundaries, which was seen in the form of a meteor shower.

This allowed inter-dimensional travel and eventually a visitor showed up named King Mickey. He had constructed a ship out of materials from the meteors. Xehanort and Mickey had huge discussions in which Xehanort learned of the Keyblade, a mysterious weapon that Mickey himself possessed. There was also legends that told of seven princess with pure hearts and how they have a connection to this Keyblade. The Keyblade can also be wielded by many and it seems there is one who will go on to seal on the doors to other worlds.

Since this was not in Xehanort's interest, he sought a way to find this weapon. Ansem ceased the research when King Mickey told him of the immorally of what he was doing, however Ansem had no idea that Xehanort had went further then he himself even dared. He ordered Xehanort and the others to seal off the laboratory and cease the experiments. The experiments continued including the creation of a machine that created artificial heartless. King Mickey suspected something odd about Xehanort and told Ansem to check his lab to insure that the experiments had indeed ceased. Ansem did so and learned that Xehanort had taken his as his name own and wrote a detailed report. From the report, Ansem learned of the horrible torture inflicted on people by the inhumane experiments that Xehanort had inflicted them on. Xehanort and the others banished Ansem to the world of nothingness and ravaged the world with heartless. Xehanort then ordered for the construction of a room that he called the "Room of Sleep". Once done, Xehanort often went in and spoke as if there was someone else in the room. Xehanort then abducted Kairi and sent her away to the oceans of other worlds. The reason for this was because Xehanort thought Kairi had a connection to the Keyblade bearer, as she seemed to posses power comparable to that of a Princess of Heart which are rumored to posses a connection to the Keyblade.

Xehanort and the others eventually gave themselves to the darkness to gain the ability to control all heartless and wield the powers of darkness. They lost their hearts in the process and they became powerful nobodies. Since they possessed strong hearts, Xehanort and his followers were able to retain their human forms while nobodies. Radiant Garden was almost completely destroyed, savior the castle, and its' people were wiped out. Xehanort's nobody was called Xemnas who created The Organization, later called Organization XIII, with the other apprentices at its' core. They seeked to become complete beings again and be whole. Xehanort's heartless, calling himself Ansem, remained a spirit seeking to plunge all that is in darkness. Both portions of Xehanort seeked Kingdom Hearts in order to wield the power it possesses and unleash it into the universe.

Trivia
In the japanese version, Xehanort was voiced by popular seiyuu Akio Ohtsuka, whose last involvement with SquareEnix was to voice Judge Gabranth of Final Fantasy XII, while providing the japanese voice of Launchpad McQuake for DuckTales and Darkwing Duck. The English dub had Xehanort voiced by Richard Epcar, protrayed Undine in Drakengard and Achilles in Radiata Stories. This is the second time the two both voiced the same character, the first being Batou of the Ghost in the Shell series.