#vexen analysis week

[werewolf-biter]

Vexen Character Analysis Week Day 7-Connections and Interactions with the rest of Organization XIII

This was actually the first one I came up with for this week, but I held off on it to make sure I didn’t run out of ideas. Vexen/Even is in a unique position of having shared a scene with or is in some way connected to every other member of the original Organization. In this last post for the analysis week, I want to take a closer look at them.

Xemnas-While they never directly interact, there are still some things worth noting. They once were co-workers as apprentices, but this completely changed when they formed the Organization. Vexen is shown seeing him as his boss, but it’s not clear just how much he actually respects him. Sometimes Vexen is characterized as being under his thumb, while other times he seems to have little concern about Xemnas’s authority, as he has twice gone against the plans of the Organization. Xemnas doesn’t seem to care about Vexen on any level deeper than research. He may even actively try to avoid him going off that one 2FM cutscene, although that may just be Vexen’s arrogance talking.

Xigbar- He is the one with the least to be said about. They were co-workers and that’s it. They are never seen interacting and nothing is said in-game that would give an idea on their feelings about each other.

Xaldin/Dilan-Another Radiant Garden co-worker. Not much to say here either as they don’t interact. Dilan was probably worried when Even went missing and that’s all I got.

Lexaeus/Aeleus-Continuing with the apprentices, but unlike the last three there’s a lot more to actually say here. Lexaeus, Vexen and Zexion are shown to still share the fairly close bond they had as Somebodies. Lexaeus seems to be one of the only people Vexen has genuine respect for. Aeleus also seems to show concern over Even’s disappearance. Even seems to value him as a fellow apprentice and doesn’t seem to talk with him in an overly formal way. He seems to be closer to Aeleus then he does Dilan, although that partly do to how things shook out game appearance-wise. It’s also worth noting that Vexen, Lexaeus and Zexion tend to be grouped together in supplementary content.

Zexion/Ienzo-Out of all the Org members, Zexion is easily the one he is closest to. This comes from the fact that he is for all intents and purposes Ienzo’s dad. While Ansem and Even both share the role of father figure, Ienzo’s Character File makes it clear Even did most of the actual work. Ienzo describes him as a stern but loving figure who could sometimes be a bit strict, but still deeply cared for him. It’s clear from the scene in BBS that Even does care a lot about Ienzo. Unfortunately, becoming Nobodies put a damper on this. They both become a lot harsher to each other. It’s not completely gone though as Zexion gets pretty upset over Vexen being killed. Demyx also mentions them as an example of people in the Org who are friends, so they may be a bit more cordial off-screen. Ienzo is clearly the person most upset over Even’s disappearance. It’s not a stretch to read what he says in KH3 as him being scared that he may have lost Even permanently that time. Once they’re both back as apprentices they seem to have patched their relationship up.

Saïx/Isa- I feel like Saïx and him have by far the strangest interactions as it goes from Saïx having him killed to being comrades in betraying the Real Org. It’s a bit tricky to judge how they feel from the scene they share as it is clearly meant to be an act put on to prevent the Org from figuring out what they’re doing. It’s possible they bear no Ill will towards each other as they both seem to have taken a stance of “Yeah I really messed up when I was Nobody”. There’s also the pre-fall of Radiant Garden stuff, like Subject X and the darkness experiments, but it does seem like Isa trusts him, so that doesn’t seem to be something he holds against Even.

Axel/Lea- This one is a bit tricky to analyze because, to be honest, Axel is kind of all over the place as a character. He doesn’t seem to like Vexen all that much in CoM, although his actions there were part of a job Saïx gave him. It’s possible he regrets them due to just how many problems Vexen (and Zexion) being dead causes in Days. I have no clue how he feels after his re-completion, does he still dislike him or did saving Roxas and Xion make him change his tune, who knows. I don’t want to be too harsh here as there were likely outside factors contributing to how Axel’s writing ended up in KH3. As for Vexen, he doesn’t like him and the game directly states that, so no ambiguity here. Even still may not like Lea much once he becomes a Somebody again. He brings it up in a conversation in KH3, but as I’ll mention in the Saïx section that scene shouldn’t be taken at face value. Some of the stuff Vexen says when talking to Org members in KH3 has also been shown to not be how he actually feels. Anywho, this has kind of just been a long winded way to say who knows.

Demyx-This one’s fun because there’s some neat details to look at! Obviously, they have their scene together, where Demyx sees Vexen as a stuck up bore and Vexen sees Demyx as annoying, but Vexen’s Character File gives some extra context to this. In there Vexen talks about how someone being dumb doesn’t prevent them from being wise in their own way, with Demyx being used as an example. It seems that Vexen does appreciate him in his own way, even if he finds him a bit much.

Luxord-Luxord just thinks of Vexen as that researcher guy who sucks up to Xemnas. Nothing in the one scene they share really gives anything to work with on how Vexen feels about Luxord, so I can’t really say something on that.

Marluxia/Lauriam-They absolutely despise each other as Nobodies. This almost certainly comes from the fact they were butting heads over who was in charge of Castle Oblivion. Strangely enough I don’t think they’d dislike each other as Somebodies though. Looking at their Character Files shows them to be in fairly similar positions in their feelings post-recompletion. They both wax about their feelings towards their actions and thoughts as Nobodies and have an almost disconnect between their Somebody and Nobody. After his recompletion, Lauriam’s goal is to work out his memories and Radiant Garden is the best place to go for something like that. I feel they would both hold feelings of regret in that situation. This is getting a bit too speculative, so I’ll end this by saying I think they could have a really neat conversation.

Larxene/Elrena -She doesn’t like him and he doesn’t like her. Interestingly, nothing about this seems to be personal, she just doesn’t like most people in general and he sees everyone as beneath him. They were never going to get along, even if they met under the best of circumstances.

Roxas- Roxas would probably have mixed feelings on Even. On one hand, he’s the guy who gave him a less than fun lesson on how to do recon, on the other hand Even played a huge role in bringing not only him but also Xion and Namine back. The recon lesson wasn’t the worse lesson he had, but it definitely wasn’t the best either. By the end of the lesson, Vexen seemed to think Roxas had some promise at doing recon, so he likely has at least some respect for him, well as much respect as someone as arrogant as Vexen can give anyway. Even also felt like it was his responsibility to make things right by giving Roxas a vessel, so he does feel some amount of care. Maybe some of his good will towards Ventus transferred over to Roxas.

Xion- They may not have any on-screen interactions, but they are characters who are deeply connected. Xion knows him only as the person who created her, but doesn’t know much more besides that as she never got to meet him. She doesn’t ever talk about him, but going off of what we know she likely sees him as a curious figure whose presence looms over her life. Even does seem to care about her and feels a great sense of responsibility as the person who brought her into the world. Going off of the secret files in KH3, he remembered her when no else did. He also put his life on the line to make sure she was able to live a full life. It seems like he has a deep regret for the suffering she had to endure as part of the Organization from both the perspective of a scientist with an obligation to help others and as someone who had a responsibly to watch over her. I hope they do interact at some point in canon as it would be such an interesting scene.

So ends my little week dedicated to doing some fun little bits of analysis of my favorite character. I had a lot of fun doing it and I hope people enjoy reading it. I plan to do a bonus day, but it will just be little things.

Day 1 <3 Day 2 <3 Day 3 <3 Day 4 <3 Day 5 <3 Day 6 <3 Bonus

[slusheeduck]

Partners In Crime (Or Coups)

[I]

“Could you tell me why I’m getting complaints about you?” Marluxia whispered to Larxene as they reached their mission location. Larxene puffed away a strand of hair.

“Probably because most of our members would shrivel and die if they had to speak directly to a woman,” she muttered. 

“You know what I mean, Larxene.” Marluxia’s voice was, as ever, quiet and even. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever heard it change, but she certainly had heard the strain in it every now and again to keep it that way; she could hear it now as he tried to tamp down his exasperation. 

She was at her two week mark now–past the point where Marluxia should still be responsible for her, but it worked for the both of them: Marluxia looked like a hard worker eager to prove himself as he rose up the ranks, and Larxene didn’t have to deal with the more annoying members when they were displeased.

“Who complained this time?” she asked, pulling up her hood. “Was it Vexen? The old man is senile, you know this, so don’t believe him.”

“Yes, Vexen. And Saix.”

“Of course Saix.”

“And Xaldin.”

“He has no flexibility, that’s why.”

“And Xigbar…” Marluxia paused. “Well. He sounded impressed, actually.” He looked to her, delicately wrangling his hair under his own hood. “I can’t be upset, you know this. But…”

“Oh my god, are you going to pull the ‘I’m just disappointed’ card?”

Marluxia’s face was covered, but despite his best efforts, she could hear a smile in his voice. “No. I’m curious about your process. The others are calling it ‘brutal’, after all.”

Larxene rolled her eyes with a huff. “I don’t see the problem with being brutal. We’re the bad guys, aren’t we?”

“Light and darkness isn’t as cut and dr–”

“No, stop. Marluxia, stop.” Larxene huffed. “The thing is, all of them get all…esoteric. They pose all these bullshit philosophical questions, and it takes forever, not to mention it’s boring. Meanwhile, what I do is…” She trailed off, then suddenly tapped his arm and pointed silently. She’d spotted their target: a man, relatively normal but definitely the adventuring type. The file said he was strong-hearted and determined, but his obsession with treasure hunting had led him to dark acts, namely stealing important artifacts: ergo, ripe for the picking. Silently, a kunai materialized in her hand, and she aimed right for his heart. One expert throw, and the man fell–a Shadow and Dancer rising in his place. She looked up at Marluxia, raising her hands in a silent question of Was that so difficult?

Marluxia was silent. It was already hard to read his silence when his face was bared; it was impossible with the hood. 

“I see the efficiency,” he said after a moment, with all the diplomacy of an actual leader-in-training. “But the end result is…lacking.”

“Lacking? We got what we wanted!”

“Could you have made him stronger?”

Beneath her hood, Larxene blinked. “What?”

Marluxia gestured to the remains of the target. “Both of those are pitifully low-level, especially for the type of person the missive said he was. Darkness is born of extreme emotions, better still if they’re struggling against their natural inclination toward the light. It’s how we were made, even if we don’t remember it.”

“You wanted him as our Number Thirteen?”

“No, of course not. But we could have had something more substantial than a Dancer to work with.” He tilted his head back just enough for Larxene to catch him tapping his lip. “Here. We can get a headstart with my next mission; I’m supposed to take Demyx, but I’m…not keen on it, and I don’t think he’ll mind.” A corridor of darkness opened beside him, leading back to the castle. “Come with me. We can start planning.”

And holy shit, did they plan. Excessively, in Larxene’s opinion. Marluxia did a full analysis of their target (a pirate, operating under false pretenses, with a crew just on the edge of mutinous due to his mismanagement and distraction via a sudden attempt at pseudo-parenting), laying out what his weaknesses would be and how to best utilize them. Then he drew up a plan. Then, finally, days later, they went to their location. Marluxia insisted Larxene hang back and watch. Not her assignment, so she might as well. 

It started off really strong, she had to give him that. Marluxia played the pirate like a fiddle: preying on his concerns for the boy he’d taken under his mechanical arm, the fury of his crew, a well-slipped “black spot” (whatever that was), and finally an offer of power that no one, no matter how good originally, would be able to resist. Darkness was practically radiating off of him by the end of the mission.

One problem. 

This guy, while reformed when they first arrived, was already bad. And rule number one of getting power is to do away with the person who gave it to you. So Marluxia was now faced with a recently-tapped torrent of darkness who wanted him dead, who was already a murderer before they came onto the scene, now bringing out every new bell and whistle he had in a fight.

Needless to say, it was not a pretty situation Number Eleven was in. But…he did say to hang back, and for the moment, it looked as though he was doing pretty well on his own. Really well, actually; he clearly had the upper hand, the former clumsiness with his scythe replaced with graceful arcs and deadly swipes. It was actually very exciting to watch, from Larxene’s perspective.

Finally, the target went down, and Marluxia raised his scythe for the finishing blow. He held his pose…then kept holding it. Larxene at first thought he was trying to be dramatic, but a closer look showed her how his arms shook, how his pose became unsteady. He stumbled back as the target rose to his feet, aiming up his own finishing blow as Marluxia balked. The target raised his mechanical arm, gears whirring as a canon formed from it. He took aim at Marluxia, plasma gathering, and…then his arm dropped, three kunai suddenly embedded in his chest. When he looked down, a blast of lightning finished the job. 

The target separated neatly into a heartless–one that looked remarkably like a cyborg, they were always on the nose–and a large Phantom Nobody that zipped off. There, mission done. Larxene dismissed her remaining knives, waiting for a thank you from Marluxia. And she kept waiting. Finally, she looked over at him.

“You’re welcome?” She crossed her arms. “You could have been a goner if it wasn’t for me. A little gratitude would be nice.”

Marluxia didn’t speak. Finally, there was the clatter of his scythe hitting the ground before it disappeared in a flurry of petals. With his hood up, there was no way to gauge his expression, but Larxene caught the quick rise and fall of his chest and the stiff hold of his shoulders. She hesitated, then pulled up a corridor before grabbing his arm.

“Come on. We’re done, Marluxia,” she said. Her voice wasn’t gentle; she didn’t think it could be. But she did try to soften it as she tugged him back to the castle. 

Ordinarily, reports were supposed to be made immediately upon returning, but she blazed past the Gray Room, dragging Marluxia up to his own. He offered no resistance, going silently to sit on a vine-covered seat. Larxene kept her hood up as she hesitated; even with a heart, she was pretty sure she’d never been good at comforting. She definitely wouldn’t be any better at it now. For a long moment, they were silent; Marluxia sitting very still and Larxene awkwardly shifting her weight between legs as she crossed her arms. But the quiet was deafening, and she couldn’t stand it.

“So…flowers,” she finally offered as she took off her hood. “Any reason that’s your thing?”

“What?” The opening of Marluxia’s hood turned toward her, voice vague. She shrugged.

“Y’know, like…like why your powers are all flower-based.” She walked over to a few that had climbed up his wardrobe, pink petal’s delicately opened toward her. “Vexen, before he chewed me out on our one mission so far, was going on and on about some theory he had about how our powers relate to some…core part of ourselves from before.” She shrugged, then held out her hand, little bits of lightning dancing around her fingertips. “It was boring to listen to, but I did start wondering. I think I…I mean, if I had to guess, I think I always wanted to show everyone what I could do, and it was…pent up enough that it comes out now as lightning. But who knows, right?” 

Marluxia didn’t answer, hood still up and body very still. Larxene glanced back at him, feeling very far out of her depth. Ranking and order aside, Marluxia was the more experienced of the two of them, even if only by a few days, and he’d been nothing but cool and collected. What could have made him choke?

“There was a field.” The hollow reply made Larxene startle in surprise. “Of flowers.”

“From before?” He didn’t answer. “So it was important, I guess.”

Marluxia continued to stay quiet, then finally shifted forward, arms resting on his knees as his head drooped. Finally, very quietly, he asked, “How do you do it?”

“Do…what?”

“Work so clinically. You didn’t even blink when it came to finishing off the target.”

Larxene’s brow furrowed, and she shrugged. “I dunno. It just…doesn’t bother me?” She looks over him for a moment. “It bothers you a lot, though.”

“No, it…I mean…” He let out a sharp breath as he held his hooded head. “It shouldn’t. It hasn’t before, but in the other missions, our target was already lost to the darkness. This one could have been saved. But we don’t have…guilt now, and we’re doing what we must to regain what we lost. It shouldn’t matter what he was on the cusp of. But…” He curled into himself, so tense his arms trembled, and his voice dropped to a whisper. “But I kept hearing someone as I was about to deal the final blow. Just…‘what happened’ and ‘good and kind’ over and over and I couldn’t…” 

The shaky breath he let out was far from emotionless. But Larxene wasn’t going to tell him that. Instead, she plucked a flower from the wardrobe, lightly running her gloved finger over the edges of its petals as she thought.

“I bet you were good,” she said quietly. “Before this.”

The hood looked up. “Clearly I was not.”

“Maybe not by the time you lost your heart, but I bet you were before.” Larxene traced the delicate veins in one of the petals, then sharply plucked it away. “I don’t think I was. But I don’t think I was bad, either. Just…I didn’t care.” She continued plucking away, petals dropping onto her boots. “I don’t care who it is we’re getting. We could…go after one of those Princesses of Heart and I’d be fine zapping her heart right out. If anything, I’d want them to put up a fight just so it wouldn’t be so boring.” The last petal fell, and she was left twirling the now sagging remains of the flower between her fingers, only looking up when Marluxia pulled off his hood.

“Help me,” he said quietly, still looking at the ground. 

“What?”

“I don’t want to hear that voice again.” His hands curled into fists against his thighs. “I’m starting to see what I need to do to get us ahead of Xemnas. As Nobodies, we have a unique capacity to do what we need to without letting emotions get the better of us. What I’m fighting is the memory of emotion, and if I’m weak to it, I’ll slip and be destroyed.” He looked up at her, emotionless mask breaking as desperation filled his face. “That can’t happen. So help me, Larxene.”

Larxene pressed her lips together, then glanced away. “It’s not something I can teach,” she said, dropping the stem to the ground. She set the toe of her boot over it, crushing it down into the stone floor. After a moment, her eyes flicked up. “But we’re partners. If you can do what you did with the last target, I can finish the job.” She half-smiled. “Maybe we’ll even rub off on each other with enough time–though you’ll have to kill me yourself if I start doing a bullshit lecture on the nature of light and darkness.” 

Clearly, Marluxia was still shaken, because he actually smiled at that. She’d wondered, idly, what it would look like if he ever actually did, and what really shocked her was that she felt as if she’d seen it before.

“You gave me hope for the first time since St–”

She shook her head as another half-memory played in her mind, playing it off by going to drop down onto Marluxia’s bed.

“Anyway, I still expect a thanks for saving your ass.You can do the report for both of our missions. Try not to be too wordy in mine.”

-----------

It was already claustrophobic the first time they’d used the lifeboats, but now they felt like a tomb. “Let your heart be your guiding key,” Union Leader Brain had said, as if it could be a comfort after being told that she was going to be launched off to a place and time that he didn’t even know. Her heart couldn’t even guide her in Daybreak Town.

“I’m sorry.” The voice beside her was as soft as ever, nearly drowned out by Brain’s frantic typing. “This isn’t much of a thank you for helping me, is it?”

She let out a strained little laugh. What an understatement. She swallowed as a hand reached into her lifeboat, the angle awkward. Almost instinctively, she grabbed it, squeezing hard.

“Are you scared?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Don’t be. You’ll have a friend out there, even if we’re far apart, and hearts have a funny way of leading us back to each other.” His hand squeezed hers tightly. “So thank you, Elrena, for being my friend. I’ll see you again soon.”

She swallowed, eyes starting to sting, and her voice shook as she whispered back, “See you, Lauriam.”

The lifeboats’ hydraulics gave a hiss, and the hand pulled away just before the lids came to shut over them again. She heard a great crash, and the building shook hard enough to throw her around the lifeboat. The last thing she felt was her head slamming against the door, and then she was swallowed up by the dark.

-----------

Marluxia didn’t look at her.

His eyes–golden, like hers were now–were fixed on the horizon, and he was silent as she stepped onto the rock tower beside his. Before, she would have been able to greet him first, possibly rib him for standing oh so dramatically in the desert sun. But things weren’t the same now.

Xemnas–Xehanort–whoever the bastard was had taken her heart, as promised, and she was Larxene again. But there was something…odd in her brain now; rather than the half-memories she’d been plagued by, she was distinctly aware of thoughts that didn’t belong to her. A desperate need to tap into Kingdom Hearts, a near-manic desire to collect the Thirteen Pieces of Darkness and Seven Pieces of Light, a hunger for power unimaginable–all of those were definitely not from her. 

It was annoying, being privy to some geezer’s thoughts. But what was worse was that this time, she remembered. She knew who she had been, she knew what she had been like. And she was willing to bet it was the same for everyone in the Real Organization.

So now, they weren’t just Larxene and Marluxia; no matter how much she wished she could ignore it, they were Elrena and Lauriam as well, and the old timidity of being near her superior stilled her tongue and tightened her throat.

“So, why are you back?” His voice was soft and flat, same as ever.

There was a brief moment where Larxene wanted to scream. Why else would she be back? Did he think she wanted to be a…a heart tank for a megalomaniac old man? Her lack of a heart, at least, managed to temper her. 

“Nice way to greet your old partner in crime.”

Marluxia puffed out a breath, lips curving up, but he stayed silent. Internally, Larxene felt her stomach flip. Even as Elrena, she’d never been in the situation of being with a long-lost friend. Was he content enough not to say anything? Was he unhappy to see her, considering how badly things had ended?

“So why do you think the old geezer took us back?” Her tone was playful instead of strained, but that was a difficult trick even without actual emotions. “He must know we backstabbed the Organization when Xemnas was running it.”

“Xehanort doesn’t care about you or me.” Why wasn’t he looking at her? “To him, we’re nothing more than empty husks.” Why didn’t he look at her? “The old Organization was the same. Xehanort needs thirteen vessels to hold his essence.” 

So many questions bubbled up in her throat. How did he find this out? Had he known this when he agreed to come back? Were they still…whatever they were before? Why wasn’t he looking at her? 

“Husks? Not me,” was what came out instead, flighty and playful. Elrena hid behind aloofness; Larxene, it seemed, hid behind being flippant. Had she ever noticed that while she was in the Organization? She set her hand on her hip, giving Marluxia a smile. “You up for another coup?”

“Oh please,” came another voice before Marluxia could answer, and Larxene whirled around to sneer at Demyx. He had golden eyes, too; lucky for him, because otherwise she would have eviscerated him for getting in the way. But the damage was done; her temper got the better of her as she berated the others as they appeared, and any attempt at digging deeper with Marluxia was gone. 

And when they all stepped away, he hadn’t looked at her once the entire time.

[werewolf-biter]

Vexen Character Analysis Week Day 4-Weapon Names

For this one I wanted to look at the names of his shields in Days. His shields are named for thing relating to either the cold, science and for a few of them both. I’ll look at both the English and Japanese names as some of them have different names depending on the language. I’ll also look at the name of his personal accessory.

Tester Zero- Considering all that came up when I looked this up was a 70s mecha anime I’m going to say this name was picked just to sound vaguely science-y while also making it clear this is his basic weapon.

Product One- Same with this one as well. It’s the shield he gets from the first gear you get so it has a name which fits with that role.

Deep Freeze/Refrigerator - Both of these are names that relate to the cold. I always find it so funny that one of his weapons is named refrigerator of all things.

Cryolite Shield- Cryolite is a rare mostly white mineral that is mainly found in Greenland. Cryo is also a prefix that means cold. This one uses the cold theming in a really neat way.

False Theory- This one refers to the idea of falsifiability, which deals with how a theory should be able to be proven false. It also may refer to the idea of a null hypothesis or the idea that a hypothesis isn’t true due to there being no statistical significance. This name is interesting as it conveys the ideas of a theory that has been proven wrong, which draws some parallels with the research done by the apprentices.

Glacier- Glaciers are massive dense body of ice that slowly move and create landforms in their wake. Another one that’s just meant to keep with the cold theme.

Absolute Zero- zero Kelvin is the coldest possible temperature . At that point all motion stops and only a small amount of energy is left. A fitting name for a weapon wielded by a cryokinetic scientist.

Gunz-This shield takes its name from a glacial period. There’s another two that continue this theme.

Mindel- Another glacial period one. Interestingly all the glacial periods referenced are also the names of tributaries of the Danube.

Snowslide- This name evokes images of rushing avalanches and fierce blizzards. This suits his fighting style in CoM pretty well, less so in KH2 and Days though.

Iceberg- an iceberg is a large chunk of ice floating in a body of water. They also tend to be connected to the idea of things existing under the surface. I would imagine it was picked for cold theming, but it also works in the context of darkness existing within the realm of light.

Inquisition/Researcher- This two are both science related terms. Researcher is a word that generally means the same thing as scientist. Inquisition can mean a few things, but in this case it is referring to scientific curiosity. Unchecked curiosity was what started Even fall to darkness, which makes this a particularly interesting choice of name.

Scrutiny/Experiment- An experiment is a research method used to establish causation between independent and dependent variables. Scrutiny is part of the scientific norm of organized skepticism or the idea that research should be properly analyzed before being accepted. This is the reason that studies are peer-reviewed.

Empiricism/Closed Tool- So I don’t know what a closed tool is and all looking it brought me to was the idea of closed source. I don’t think that’s what they were going for, but it does work nicely with the secrecy that the Organization and its members tends to practice Empiricism refers to the empirical method, the standard that scientific research holds it self as a means of establishing validity in its results.

Edification/Laboratory -Laboratories are places where research is conducted. Edification is the act of trying to improve one’s self intellectually, morally or spiritually. Like with inquisition this can connected with his fall to darkness, which saw him perusing knowledge without little regard for the hurt it may cause.

Contrivance - In this context this is likely referring to a finding that came down to confounding factors instead of what was being researched. It can also refer to data being manipulated to get a wanted result. From what has been seen, it seems like quite a bit of the research down by both the apprentices and the Organization was of this nature.

Würm- This is the last of the shields named for glacial periods. Glacial periods are intervals of colder weather during ice ages.

Subzero- A temperature below 0. Analysis one that was done to fit the ice theming.

Cold Blood- A phrase used to describe someone who does cruel acts in a callous and detached manner. Interestingly this doesn’t actually fit Vexen all that well, as he is ironically quite hot-blooded, cold-blooded is more a term I’d use to describe characters like Xemnas, Marluxia and Saïx. Likely picked for both cold theming and to give the image of someone conducting unethical research in a clinical way.

Diamond Shield-This comes from the meteorological phenomenon know as diamond dust which sees the creation of clouds of tiny ice crystals. Square has used this as the name for a variety of things, most famously Shiva’s signature attack, but also as the name for one of Vexen’s sleights and his Limit Break in Days.

Aegis- An aegis is an object of protection. The term comes from Greek mythology we’re it was used for a divinely blessed object that has depicted as a cloak, a shield or a breastplate. This one is unique as it doesn’t follow the theming of the rest of his weapons and instead comes from the weapon he wields. Protection in relation to him goes beyond just his shield, as Even was Ienzo’s main guardian, a job he seemed to take to heart as a Somebody.

Frozen Pride- This name actually predates Days as it came from KH2FM. This is why it doesn’t completely follow the naming scheme. The name comes from a combination of Vexen element and his extremely haughty nature. It may also reflect how despite his pride, he doesn’t really get that much respect from some of the other Org members.

Pot Lid- It’s a pot lid and was likely picked as a silly type of shield as this is a gag weapon.

Snowman- The other gag weapons. It’s a small shield with a little snowman on it. What’s interesting is that its description says it reflects the user personality, which leads to the question of what the weapon could mean. Maybe it refers to him creating Replicas, maybe it’s just because he controls ice, or maybe it’s meant to harken back to happy winter memories as a Somebody, who knows.

Ice Breaker/Smiles of Ice and Snow This is his personal accessory that gives complete resistance to being frozen. The English name is just a quip reflecting his ice powers, but the Japanese name is far more interesting. It fascinates me because it has seemingly happy connotations that evoke the image of a pleasant cozy winter. If it had been Smile of Ice it would have given the image of cold sadistic glee, but the addition of snow gives a sweeter softer feeling. Like Aegis and Snowman it seems to harken back to his role as Ienzo’s guardian.

Looking at these as a whole there are some things to note. Most of the ice related one seem to have been picked mainly for the purpose of theming and do not give a lot to work with. The science related ones on the other hand show something of a pattern, particularly with the English names. Most of them are connected to curiosity and the concept of falsifiability. Their names seem to come from the qualities that lead to him becoming a Nobody, a ravenous urge to find more knowledge and less than stellar research methods. They reflect has absolute worst qualities as a researcher. In contrast to that, the ones the connected to protection reflect has best quality when he was a Somebody, the care he once had for others. It leads to the names evoking of feeling of things that have been lost and sins of the past.

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Day 7 <3 Bonus

[werewolf-biter]

Vexen Character Analysis Week Day 1- What kind of research is he doing anyway?

To start this off I want to take a look at the research he does in game and try to figure what he is studying. Like most media involving science Kingdom Hearts mixes various fields together to create a generic form of science. Despite that there are still some things that can be noted in particular.

The big one is the Radiant Garden apprentices research into the Heart. While this is for the most pure fantasy, there are aspects that parallel actual fields. The Heart is shown to be connected to a person’s sense of self and bonds with others, which makes it similar to fields of social science that focus on how we think and how we interact with others. Along with this Vexen is shown to be one of the Org’s main recon people, which requires him to be good at observing people and their environment and then analyzing that information to figure out how the people of that world live. There is also his “experiment” (experiment in quotes because it doesn’t actually meet the requirements to be a proper experiment) in CoM looking at how Sora interacts with and feels about Repliku. This all points to his main form of research being a form of social science.

Most of the research is shown to be done using computers and other forms of technology. This goes for both Radiant Garden and the Organization. Even stuff like extracting Hearts seems to be done through computers. While tech is a bit more relevant when it comes to discussing what Ienzo does, as he seems to be the main tech guy on account of his work on the gummiphone and developing a social media site, tech is still shown to be a major element of the research Vexen does.

This leads into the Replica Program, which honestly seems to be pure techno-magic. From what has been seen in the games, Replicas seem to be a mannequin that has by some means been given or grown a Heart. Most of them fall into the first category such as the alternative norts in the real Org and post-KH3 Roxas. Repliku is an interesting mix of both as he’s originally a copy of Riku’s appearance that had his own distinct personality that then had Riku’s memories forced on him. Xion is similar but had a far longer time to develop her own Heart separate from the memories she was initially given. The process of how Replicas are given life seems to require a “spark” of either being given some part of someone’s identity or having someone’s Heart placed into them which shows how magic and science intermingle in Vexen’s work.

Going off of all of this, I think the best way to describe Vexen’s research is a form of cognition and interaction-focused social science that has magical and technological elements mixed in.

Side Note: It’s also interesting to note how often fan depictions bring in things such as dissection and working with chemicals despite the fact he’s not shown doing stuff like that in the games. Most of his work seems to be done through observations, technology and a bit of magic. I think a lot of this comes down to stereotypes about science and scientists along with chemistry and biology being the two fields people associate the most with science.

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Day 7 <3 Bonus

[werewolf-biter]

Vexen Character Analysis Week Day 3-Emotions

Something I find so interesting is how Vexen is shown to be a lot more emotional and expressive than Even. This isn’t a new observation as people have pointed it before, but it’s so fascinating as it flys right in the face of what was stated about Nobodies and emotions. While it is now known that Nobodies regrow their Hearts and along with them feelings, it’s still so interesting that Vexen somehow became more emotional than Even when he potentially started getting his emotions again.

Even is described in quite a few of his profiles as being calm and what we have seen and heard about him is in line with that. He’s not emotionless, but his emotions are typically a bit subdued. He gets surprised over some stuff at the end of MoM and is a bit disappointed over the limits of the apprentices’s knowledge. These are expressed mainly through slight gasps and sighs. Ienzo’s character file gives examples of him being worried about things such as Ienzo scampering off on his own or Ansem giving Ienzo too much ice cream. These seem to be a bit stronger in their feeling and expression than his emotions at the end of MoM. There is also the matter of him reprimanding Ienzo when he got an equation wrong, although I don’t feel like there’s enough information to ascribe an emotion to that. Overall this paints Even as someone who is calm while being fairly passionate.

Vexen on the other hand is a veritable whirlwind of emotions. He seethes with rage and cackles with glee seemingly without any restraint. He is ludicrously irritable and loses his cool at a moments notice regardless of who he is talking to. It is almost as if becoming a Nobody and potentially regrowing his Heart somehow made him lose control of his emotions. Well in Days and CoM at least; it’s a bit different in KH3. While he is a Nobody again, he seems a lot more subdued. Even when he is trying to act like he did in the past, it is nowhere near as over the top as he used to be. He does get a bit irritated when talking with Demyx, although I think most people would get annoyed when trying to get Demyx to do something. Funny as Demyx is, he would be an absolutely terrible teammate. I wonder if him being closer to his original self that time was because he became a Nobody with a clear purpose in mind instead of it being the result of a surprise attack. He pretty much is just an Even that can summon dark corridors in KH3 rather than the geyser of emotions he was in CoM.

There are two reasons why I think there is such a stark difference here. One is that the Heart in KH seems to be directly connected a person’s personality and sense of self. I don’t think it would be out of the question to say that losing his Heart also lead to him losing his calm disposition. A lot of the Nobodies seem to have vague connections to the personality they had as a Somebody, but with a lot of the traits missing. In his case all that remained was his scientific curiosity. Secondly, I would imagine that having an influx of emotions after you lost them would be overwhelming. Almost like the emotional equivalent of your leg feeling asleep. Everything you feel becomes a startling jolt regardless of what it is. Either of these work well as an explanation for why Even and Vexen are so emotionally different. Of course, it could always be due to some yet unknown quality of turning into a Nobody, so who knows.

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Day 7 <3 Bonus

[werewolf-biter]

Vexen Character Analysis Week Day 6-Appearances in other worlds pt.2 holiday edition

This will be like the first one, but instead with Halloween Town and Christmas Town. These are a bit trickier since it’s harder to pin something down as there are less clearly defined boundaries with the two worlds.

Halloween Town

The boring answer is that there would be little to no changes. This is how it was done in Days and it may well just be how it would be no matter what. Another boring option would be an exaggerated version of his normal look. He would slot easily into being a mad scientist, on account of the fact he was one. Getting more creative with it provides some interesting options. Halloween Town is based mainly in the iconography of Halloween as a holiday. There isn’t really any thing when it comes to stock Halloween monsters that’s directly connected with ice. Werewolves get the closest, as wolves tend to be associated with the cold, and points to user-name that would be something I very much like. A ghostly knight or haunted suit of armor would be a great pick if one decides to lean into his choice of weapon, although the ghosts in Halloween Town tend to be of the bedsheet variety. Overall this one could end up being something super fun or kind of boring, it all depends on what aspects if his character it centers.

Christmas Town

I only have two ideas for this one, but they both work really well. The first is a fluffy blue and white winter ensemble. With a large flowing coat featuring silver embroidered designs of hearts or snowflakes and a suitably cozy hat, pair of pants and pair of boots. The other was something inspired by stock Christmas angels. As in a long white robe and some form of small head adornment, like a crown of holly leaves. I chose these as they have an air of elegance to them, which would put them in line with the aesthetics of his Organization coat.

This one is a bit shorter and more casual than the others so far. I’m a bit tired today because I had to wake up early for something, but this was still super fun.

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Day 7 <3 Bonus

[werewolf-biter]

Vexen Character Analysis Week Day 2- Appearance in other worlds

This one is focused on speculating what animal and type of merfolk he would be in the Pride Lands and Atlantica. This one is going to be bit short and somewhat less of a proper analysis.

Pride Lands

The first thing that came to mind for me was a lion. His design could be translated into a lion pretty easily, especially a Lion King style one. His hair lends itself well to designing a mane and he just has a rather cat-like appearance in general. Being a lion also suits Vexen well since they are animals associated with pride, something he has no shortage of.

I think a species of antelope could also suit him well and are a good way to tie in his weapon of choice. In particular I went with a sable antelope, a large savanna dwelling member of the Hippotraginae family, due to how their horns are used for both bashing and stabbing/slashing, similar to how he uses Frozen Pride. He would have a lighter coat color than an actual sable antelope to better match with his hair, but I still think this choice suits him quite well.

Primates are another fitting choice on account of how smart they tend to be. A species of Baboon would be a fun pick thanks to their intelligence and some species having a golden coloration. Like with lions, I think his design could be translated into a baboon and still be easy to recognize as him.

Atlantica

My first choice for this was a bottlenose whale. I picked this both for whales being very intelligent animals, fitting him as a character, and because these whales tend to have a brownish-grey coloration and far down dorsal fin that would make for a really neat looking merfolk tail. A beluga would be another fun cetacean pick.

Another one I think would be a neat pick is a vampire squid. The main reason is that not only would the webbed tentacles make for a cool tail, they would also resemble both a lab coat and the signature Organization coat. This also have bright blue bioluminescence that kind of reminds me of how ice magic is represented in KH.

I’ve seen people in the past do Atlantica designs for him based on cold water seals and sea lions. My preferred pinniped pick would be a ribbon seal. They are a species of seal that live in arctic and sub-arctic areas that have mostly black fur broken up by large white stripes, hence the ribbon part of their name. This one is pretty much just because they’re arctic seals that have a really cool fur pattern. Sometimes you just have to go with something purely because it would look cool.

As said this one is less a proper analysis and more just speculation based in aspects of his character, but it was still fun to do. Feel free to chime in with your picks for this!

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Day 7 <3 Bonus

[werewolf-biter]

Vexen Character Analysis Week Bonus Day

This was a very spur of the moment thing that I decided to do because I thought it would be fun. If I do this again I’m definitely going to plan things out a bit more. As for what I want people to take away from this, well obviously the big one is more appreciation for Vexen/Even as a character, but it’s not the only thing. I also hope people take away the idea that it’s worth it to write/draw/talk about a character you like regardless of how much attention you get. If you had fun doing it that’s what really counts. Anyways I hope people enjoy reading the posts as much as I enjoyed writing them and maybe just take a little bit of time to make something for whatever you love, even if no one cares.

Miscellaneous stuff

Larxene’s Character File has here list off the majority of Org XIII as people she hates, with Demyx apparently being the one she despises most. His whimsy has no charm to her.

There were somethings I thought about analyzing but decided not to, like his design

I did not think the weapon names post would take as long as it did, my god.

Also maybe I’m just biased, but I think he has by far and away the prettiest looking weapons in the Org. Someone was designing that man’s shields with love.

I cut this out because it was making the Axel section way too long, but Vexen does just straight up lie at some points in KH3. Like at one point he talks disparagingly about Sora, but then in his Character File he mentions that he actually has a good deal of respect for Sora.

It’s honestly incredible just how few fucks he gave as a member of the Org in KH3

I probably should have done an analysis on what his subordinate Nobodies were, but I just did not think of that until after I was done. My personal guess is paladin, but maybe that would change if I looked deeper into this.

Links to all the Days

Day 1 Research

Day 2 Pride Lands and Atlantica

Day 3 Emotions

Day 4 Weapon names

Day 5 Fighting style

Day 6 Holiday Towns

Day 7 Organized XIII

[werewolf-biter]

Vexen Character Analysis Week Day 5-Fighting Style

Trying to do something a bit shorter after yesterday’s, but I always found it interesting just how different Vexen’s boss fights are between Re:CoM and KH2FM. The two fights see him use two wildly different ways of fighting, CoM has him being fast and aggressive while 2FM is slower and more methodical.

In CoM he uses a fairly even mix of magical and physical move in his general non-sleight attacks. He strikes are fast and precise, especially when considering the weapon he uses. He uses Frozen Pride not to bash his opponent as one would expect, but instead to slash at them as if using a sword. His basic magical attack is a standard ice spell with nothing particularly flashy about it. His sleights lean more magical than physical but are by no means lopsided. Freeze has him freezes his opponent and then follow that up by striking them with his shield, while Ice Needles summons a tracking series of ice pillars from the ground. His “Limit Break” depends on if you’re fighting him as Sora or Riku. The Riku version of the fight has Diamond Dust, where he summons a raging snowstorm. The second Sora fight instead sees him use Slide Break, an attack that has him turn his shield into a huge ice blade. He then glides across the arena swinging the sword around before flipping and slamming the sword into the ground, creating a shockwave with its impact. This fight presents him as a fighter that has both great offense and dense, who is just as likely to physically strike his enemy as he is to sling a spell at them.

2FM goes in a different direction and has him only cast spells. In this fight Frozen Pride does nothing beside float in front of him and block attacks. This fight also has him summon a copy of Sora to fight along side him. He is still decently aggressive in his rate of attacks, but it feels quite a bit different when all the attacks are spells. His Limit here has him summoning huge chunks of ice that he magically throws at his foes. In 2FM he comes off more as a purely magical fighter that just happens to also have a strong defense.

This leads to the question of why (in-universe) there is such a difference. Unfortunately I can’t really come up with a satisfying answer. If the 2FM one was just a data version than it could be explained as someone basing it on how they think Vexen would fight, but the existence of the absent silhouettes means that isn’t the reason. Could it be that he was angry before the CoM fights? Maybe, but it does seem like he’s calmed down by the time he starts the fights and that would not explain the Riku fight. It can’t be that one style is better for collecting data than the other as he seems just an effective at doing it in both fights. Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything that works as an in-universe explanation, it’s just the different teams working on the games came up with different boss battles for him.

Of the two I like the CoM one a lot more. It feels a lot more unique and adds a surprising element to his character. 2FM tries to reflect him being a scientist, but I don’t think that was a good direction to go with for a boss fight. It’s just kind of bad, and not even in a funny way like Zexion’s fight.

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Day 7 <3 Bonus

[werewolf-biter]

Going to try to write a little bit of Vexen character analysis every day for the last week of April