Template:Game Template:Gallery Template:InfoCharacter Template:Q Braig, misromanized as Bleig, was one of six apprentices of Ansem the Wise, and the original persona of Xigbar. He serves as a supporting antagonist in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.
Journal entry
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
A mysterious man who is up to something behind the scenes.
He and Master Xehanort have an understanding; Braig staged the Master's kidnapping to draw the darkness out of Terra, but that same darkness left Braig scarred.
Story
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
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Braig in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.
Braig confronts Terra when he comes to Radiant Garden, claiming to have captured Master Xehanort. Braig leads the skeptical Terra underneath Radiant Garden, where he shows Master Xehanort chained to a large pole, to Terra's horror. Braig then engages Terra in a duel, intent on eliminating him and taking his Keyblade. Terra is reluctant to fight back out of fear of succumbing to the darkness and endangering Master Xehanort, until the latter screams for him to use the Keyblade and avoid shaming Master Eraqus. Terra fights back and eventually defeats Braig by using the power of darkness, in the process scarring Braig's face and destroying hsi right eye.
However, it is later revealed Braig was working for Master Xehanort the entire time; he faked capturing Xehanort to bring out the darkness in Terra. Out of anger for his injuries, Braig fired several shots at Master Xehanort, but he blocked them without moving. Poking his weapon at Xehanort's head, Braig had Xehanort's Keyblade held against his throat to make him bakc off. Calming down, Braig reminded Xehanort he was still needing as part of Xehanort's backup plan to forge the X-blade. (Xehanort would infuse Braig with a piece of his heart, eventualy turning him into a clone; he needed 11 others besides Braig.) He then says that he was lucky Terra didn't remove his heart like Princess Aurora. However, Master Xehanort says it is unlikely Terra did so willingly as a powerful light still existed within him, leavin Braig confused.
Braig later appears in the Keyblade Graveyard, having been infused with part of Xehanort's heart as indicated by his remaining eye becoming yellow and his ears becoming pointed. He appears in front of Aqua and Ventus, attempting to get them to attack Terra and kill him for his role in the death of Eraqus, but they refuse to forsake their friend. After paying particular attention to and mocking the angry glare Ventus gives him, Aqua battles Braig for trying to turn them against their friend and defeats him. He begins to escape, and Aqua chases after him, but she realizes that she can't leave Ven in his fragile state alone, so she stops and allows Braig to return to Radiant Garden.
Later, back at the Radiant Garden, Braig leads Dilan and Ansem to an amnesiac young Xehanort, the result of Master Xehanort possessing Terra's body, and smiles discreetly but triumphantly to himself, relieved that his partner's plan worked. However, Braig later approaches the new Xehanort, now an apprentice under Ansem, and is dismayed to find that the new Xehanort does not recognize him, and Braig's attempts to help Xehanort remember prove only to annoy him. Braig, at one point, questions if this new Xehanort is actually Terra, but Xehanort still does not respond, much to Braig's relief. Braig nevertheless says in a friendly manner that he's got Xehanort's back, having been entrusted with Master Xehanort's back-up plan.
Between Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts
Braig becomes one of six apprentices to Ansem the Wise, the ruler and scientist of Radiant Garden, alongside Dilan, Even, Aeleus, Ienzo, and Xehanort. After Ansem began performing tests on Xehanort's heart, Braig convinces the other apprentices to aid him and Xehanort in conducting inhumane experiments on the human heart and the darkness within it. Such experimentation leads to the mass creation of Heartless.
Ansem quickly discovered their secret experiments, and immediately ordered them to stop. One day, after being advised to review their research data by King Mickey, Ansem found that the effects of their experiments had become irreversible.
Eventually, Braig and the other five apprentices dabble too deep into darkness through their continued experiments. Sometime soon after, Braig arrived to the lab to see Xehanort attacking the others with Master Xehanort's Keyblade. Asking if he is really Master Xehanort with his memories restored, Braig is impaled by his attacker as he calls himself "Ansem". However, having a strong will, Braig's Nobody Xigbar came into being after he lost his heart. Along with the other apprentices' Nobodies and Xemnas, Braig became one of the founding members of Organization XIII and banished Ansem the Wise to the Realm of Darkness.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Despite the destruction of his Heartless and Xigbar, Braig and Isa do not reappear in Hollow Bastion with Dilan, Even, Aeleus, Ienzo and Lea, which prompts Lea to venture out to search for them. Later, after his return, Master Xehanort reveals to Mickey and Riku, Braig's role in his scheme to acquire twelve additional bodies to infuse fragments of his heart in. Furthermore, to honor his deal to enable him to use a Keyblade, Master Xehanort made Braig the first of his Xehanort clones. Though Xigbar reveals the process is partial, he states it was a decision he accepted at the cost of his individuality.
Appearance
During Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Braig wears a guard's uniform with a dark slate grey jacket, silver highlights, and two rows of gold buttons on the front. He wears a black belt and white gloves adorned with a silver, curled heart symbol. His jacket bears some resemblance to Xigbar's Black Coat, sporting the same pointed shoulders. He also wears black, knee-high boots and a tattered, red scarf. In terms of facial features, Braig sports brown eyes, though they turn gold upon his acceptance of the darkness, upturned eyebrows, and dark, shoulder-length hair that he wears slicked back. After his fight against Terra, he loses his right eye and receives a jagged scar over his left cheek, making him and Master Eraqus the only two characters that are seen receiving scars during the story. Once he is able to take the bandages off, Braig wears an eyepatch to cover his lost eye.
Braig wields two ranged weapons called Arrowguns. His first set are crossbow-shaped and colored in shades of silver and a faded, metallic purple and adorned with the same curled heart symbol as his gloves. His second set are the Sharpshooter.
Personality
Since Braig is the original persona of Xigbar, he possesses some of Xigbar's personality. He is shown to have a laid-back, cocky attitude, and doesn't often take things seriously. Braig can also be cold and merciless at times, seen once when he kidnaps Master Xehanort and tries to eliminate Terra for his Keyblade (although this was later revealed to be staged by Master Xehanort), and again when he tries to destroy Aqua and Ventus to get Terra to fall to darkness and cruelly asking who wants to go first. He often refers to Master Xehanort as an "old coot", and like Xigbar, very frequently says "As if".
Abilities
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The Japanese release on the left, English on the right.
Braig, like his Nobody Xigbar, wields twin Arrowguns in battle, using them to fire a variety of quick shots. He uses a telescopic view in battle and is able to teleport, warp his bullets, and levitate upside-down via space distortion. Like his Nobody's, Braig's HUD display has a silhouette of his Arrowguns in each of the four cardinal directions.
The shots Braig fires when he is sniping are violet like Xigbar's, but they seem to have explosive properties to them. He can also combine his two weapons into one in order to fire powerful shots in rapid succession. Braig is also very agile, able to make high leaps into the air, and quickly run around opponents while leaving after-images of himself.
In the Western and Final Mix releases of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, his targeting reticule was changed drastically, much like it was for his Nobody, Xigbar. Instead of the crosshair-shaped reticule used when fighting Terra, the American, European, and Final Mix versions simply showed three violet dots, vaguely showing Braig's aim.