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True, we don't have hearts, but we remember what it was like. That's what makes us special.
Saïx, the Luna Diviner (月に舞う魔人 Tsuki ni Mau Majin?, lit. Demon Dancing in the Moon), is the Nobody of Isa, Rank VII within Organization XIII, as well as the second-in-command to Xemnas and a major antagonist in Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. He derives power from the Moon, and uses this power to enter a berserk rage where he mercilessly attacks opponents with his massive claymore. He commands the Berserker Nobodies.
Saïx is the second-to-last member of the Organization to fall. Along with all other Organization members in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Saïx is a playable character in Mission Mode.
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Next to Xemnas, Saïx appears to be one of the most "Nobody-like" of the Organization. Despite claiming to remember what possessing a heart was like, he behaves mostly as a cold, emotionless, and efficient operative until his final battle. In almost all of his appearances, Saïx acts very calmly, never losing composure in even the direst of situations. He is very aware of how emotions are unreal to them, unlike other members who imitate their emotions. He instead uses his memories of a heart to cruelly manipulate the hearts and behavior of others. He coldly toyed with Sora's emotions by having him beg to see Kairi, only to refuse his request. Saïx also sent the "useless" members to their deaths at Castle Oblivion under the guise of Xemnas's orders for the sake of his and Axel's plans. This was a smart tactic to simultaneously move up his rank while eliminating any competition or rebellion.
Saïx's goals as the Nobody that he was in the end was acquiring a heart and, by extension, Kingdom Hearts. He will do all he can to attain it, even turning on fellow allies without hesitation when they become obstacles, as happened with Axel. His near-obsessive devotion to his goal is his undoing. Throughout the game he repeatedly states his desire to "truly, finally exist", and it turns out his last words are only to Kingdom Hearts, sadly asking for his heart. Indeed, he desires a heart so much that he is even willing to risk staging a rebellion against the undeniably more powerful Xemnas due to knowing fully well Xemnas did not intend to grant him his heart back with Kingdom Hearts, although he displays his caution and intelligence by allying with Axel, another powerful member of the Organization, as he knew he alone could not challenge the Superior. Even then, he seemingly knows better than to fight Xemnas with only Axel and it is implied he intends to use Roxas or Xion as another ally, as he stated in the Reports his plans never counted on both of them leaving. Without Axel, it is likely that Saïx had no other option but to went along with Xemnas's plans until he could develop new but never revealed agenda, which involved him skillfully playing "charades" devoted to Kingdom Hearts but he clearly only saw Xemnas, who never intended to give him a heart, as a means to an unfortunate end.
However, as displayed by Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, he seems to still value his friendship with Axel from their time as humans over that which Axel has formed with Xion and Roxas, as was confirmed in the Secret Reports, apparently as he believes that Nobodies cannot form a real friendship without having had one with another beforehand, thus having memories to fall back on. Their relationship seemed to be the strongest, as Saïx entrusted him with his plans for a rebellion and gave him important missions for their plans, all which Axel carried out diligently, but when Xion and Roxas formed a close friendship with Axel, their friendship began to weaken due to how he has no care for Xion as a person and views her as only a tool for their needs and literally Saïx views her as a puppet, and even insists that the others say "it" when referring to Xion rather than "she", which he particularly insists to Axel as he can detect his faltering devotion, further driving them apart. It seemed that Axel already had some discomfort with how Isa had changed after becoming a Nobody even before this, which he stated openly in the Secret Reports and was what led to him to try to isolate himself, to no avail, by befriending Roxas and Xion, indicating although they trusted and were to an extent diligent regarding what they did, their relationship was only a cordial and somewhat mutually benefitting one. His inability to understand why Axel would choose Roxas and Xion over their old friendship only made the strain worse up until it seemed all sorts of friendly feelings between them had vanished, as Saïx showed a cold demeanor when Axel openly showed his betrayal in Hollow Bastion.
In Kingdom Hearts III, Saïx reveals that one of the reasons he followed Xemnas was to find out what happened to their other female friend, showing his devotion to his human friends was already sufficient for him to go to endangering extents even when he was emotionless. After being given back his humanity, Saïx showed a better side to himself. He selflessly risked himself by working with Vexen to give Roxas and Xion the replica bodies needed to revive them and showed a more light-hearted side when interacting with Axel and revealing his desire to find their other friend. Although he still seemed to be distant at the idea of Roxas and Xion being Axel's friends, it is clear he did regret how he treated them. As he dies, he reveals that the reason he was so ruthless and berserk when fighting Axel and Sora was because of how he was outraged by how he deemed Axel abandoned him and their other friend on a whim in favor of Roxas and Xion while he remained loyal to the girl they befriended. He made peace with Axel as he returns to being Isa.
Further still, his usual calm and goal-oriented demeanor belies a fierce savagery. In his final confrontation with Sora under the heart-shaped moon of Kingdom Hearts, Saïx becomes a berserk force of destruction. Unlike his reserved manner that is usual of him, he roars, shouts, and attacks relentlessly in battle with no sense of self-control. In fact, Saïx is practically psychotic under the influence of Kingdom Hearts. What this raging state says of Saïx's own emotional capacity is unclear if it's not merely a manifestation of Kingdom Hearts' absorbed power.
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Saïx wears a basic Organization black coat along with the usual black gloves and boots. He has long, frayed blue hair framing his face, though slicked back in wild spikes at the top. Behind, it reaches down to his mid-back and is cut slightly neater. A distinctive trait of Saïx's is the X-shaped scar between his yellow eyes that extends to about halfway up his forehead in one direction and to just under his eyes in the other. When Saïx enters his "Berserk" state, his eyes turn completely yellow, his scar becomes more jagged and a bit larger, and his hair becomes much messier. No matter what state, he wears a single studded earring on each pointed ear.
Saïx's transformation under the moon's power is a possible reference to several things, including: the ancient belief that the moon caused madness, hence the term "lunatic"; the modern belief that the phases of the moon can affect a person's mood; the legend of the werewolf, humans who became savage beasts under the influence of a full moon; as well as the berserker warriors of the Norse, who wore clothes made from bear skins as they went into battle in an insane fury and are the source of the modern term "berserk".
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Saïx in his "Berserker" mode.
Saïx, fitting his status as Xemnas's second-in-command, is perhaps the second most powerful member of the Organization 13 just under Xemnas himself. His power is shown by how he is able to survive a fight with Roxas and remain conscious while Axel, who had defeated Xion with some of Roxas's power, was left unconscious from the battle, and he later challenges Sora, Donald and Goofy by himself, proving to be one of the most difficult bosses due to his might, before being defeated. His mere arrival on Hollow Bastion alone was able to intimidate Axel into fleeing. In Kingdom Hearts III, his power has rose to the point of overwhelming Sora, Kairi and Lea with aid from Xion and was later able to stand up to Sora, the dual-wielding Roxas and Xion before being beaten, remaining among the most difficult of bosses in the game.
Although he appears calm and collected throughout when speaking, in battle he becomes a wild, dangerous opponent. Be as wild and savage as he may be, he is an excellent fighter with his large Claymore, wielding it with great skill to perform powerful combos and while he primarily uses his brute strength to compliment his attack, which causes his blows to be somewhat slow despite the strength of it making up for the lack of speed, he is also capable of being swift and agile, quickly landing 3-hit combos and effectively employing jump-strikes, and adept at defense. Even without his Berserk Mode, due to his skills with his weapon, strength and surprising swiftness and agility, he remains a formidable threat and diligent defense is needed in his boss fights to exploit his weaknesses. As displayed when he fights without his Berserk Mode against Lea one-on-one in Kingdom Hearts III, his fighting skills with his Claymore could easily match and even pressure Lea using his Keyblade despite seemingly being at a stalemate with Lea, showing superior skills to Xion, who was knocked aside by Axel. Along with that, even without his Berserk Mode active, he could still manipulate the energies of the moon for quite powerful effects, as before beginning to fight Sora and the party, he was able to cast a potent shockwave capable of forcing Riku with the powers of Ansem back when he protects Kairi and erect an impenetrable force-field to cut off Riku from helping Sora and he is seen unleashing blue energy to force back Isa when at an impasse in a weapon lock. However, his true danger is his ability to draw power from the moon to enter a "Berserk Form". Upon entering this form, Saïx's Lunatic Claymore shifts shape and produces a white aura which serves as extra blades and in 358/2 Days his attacks can inflict silence while his aura is able to push back close enemies. Saïx himself grows bestial, with glowing eyes, manic hair, and bared fangs. His strength and speed increase greatly, with him still having formidable skill with his weapon and can unleash powerful and deadly combos, incorporating spinning and swinging maneuvers, and he becomes nearly invulnerable. He is capable of slamming his Claymore into the ground to produce shockwaves and can unleash streams of blue energy by throwing his Claymore, which he does with great accuracy and speed. While absorbing power from the moon, he keeps himself off the ground through levitation.
However, Sora can pick up any of the Claymores that Saïx releases, allowing him to use Reaction Commands that will knock Saïx out of his berserk state, as well as inflicting significant damage. When knocked out of his berserk state, Saïx will spend most of his time with his arms stretched towards the moon, absorbing its power. At the verge of defeat, he can fill in the Berserker Gauge much faster. In Kingdom Hearts III, the level of charging speed of the Berserk Gauge is about as fast as when he becomes weak in his first boss but he can be knocked off with each hit.
The Nobodies under his command, the Berserkers, follow his attack style, using brute strength and a large weapon, but share the same weakness as Saïx.
In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Saïx's Limit Break is also called Berserk. During Berserk, Saïx goes into a berserk stage; he rushes across the field, dealing continuous, devastating damage to enemies that he comes down hitting with his claymore. When the attack button is pressed, he will jump and perform a stronger smashing attack. Each smashing attack is followed up by a shockwave.
During Saïx's Final Limit, Saïx goes into an even more berserk stage; He comes down to attack even more often, and exerts a sphere of his strength straight from himself while in the air before coming down. The shockwaves that come after each attack also increase in range.
Weapon
Saïx wields a massive blade known as a Claymore. His signature Claymore is known as Lunatic. Despite many dissimilarities to real claymores, Saïx does use a very large, two-handed bladed weapon. His Claymore is decorated with many additives that resemble the Nobody logo, in blues and yellows. When in normal form, Saïx attacks with powerful slashes and combos with the bladed edges.
Although it seems to be a completely different weapon, the Cursed Hammer of the Berserker Nobodies is used in much the same way, and even has the same Reaction Command.
The names of Saïx's various claymores are all references to astronomy or astrology (especially the moon), with the exceptions of Crocea Mors (Latin for "yellow death") in the Japanese version, which is the purported name of Julius Caesar's sword; and Just Desserts, his joke weapon.
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