Organization XIII

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Organization XIII debuted in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, then known as simply, "the Organization." In Sora's story, the player was introduced to (in no particular order) Marluxia, Axel, Larxene, and Vexen. In Reverse/Rebirth, Zexion and Lexaeus were added to the cast. The Organization also appeared in Kingdom Hearts II. In this second installment, the player meets (once again, in no particular order) Xigbar, Xaldin, Saïx, Demyx, Roxas, the leader Xemnas, and the returning member, Axel.

Organization XIII is a group of thirteen "people" called Nobodies, who have no hearts, nor emotions. Many of them try to hide this fact by pretending that they posses these qualities, fooling others as well as themselves. The Organization yearns to discover the secrets of the heart and fill the empty void inside themselves by gathering hearts to form the great Kingdom Hearts so that they can become full humans again. While each member is aware of their lack of emotions - a fact that makes them feel inadequate - they fill their nonexistance with their favorite passtimes. The Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories manga contradicts this, saying that they do have emotions, but are not whole.

Organization XIII was formed by a group of scientists working under a man called Ansem the Wise. The head of this unit was Ansem's apprentice, Xehanort. This group studied the workings of the heart and were the ones responsible for the production of the first Heartless. When Ansem the Wise rejected Xehanort's theory about the workings of the heart without even bothering to hear him out, Xehanort was angered, and continued his project anyways. Through this experiment, Xehanort, and those who still stuck with him, lost their hearts and became both Heartless and Nobodies. These Nobodies became the core of Organization XIII.

Each member in the Organization dons the same uniform, irregardless of whether they are male or female. The uniform consists of a single black leather hooded cloak that trails down to the ankle. It is plainly adorned with a silver zipper and seemingly pointless silver beaded pull strings for the hood that form a semi-circle in the middle. Not much is known about the under garments of the Organization. We do know however, that they all wear hakama-esque black pants and knee high silver trimmed boots. In addition to this, they all bare black leather gloves of some unknown length, as they disappear under bell shaped sleeves.

Ranks within the Organization have little to nothing to do with power. While Xehanort's Nobody, known as Xemnas, is undoubtably the strongest as well as the leader, the rest fall in a seemingly random order. According to several sources, the member's number (and therefore his or her rank) depends on when they joined the Organization. As the group's name describes, there are a total thirteen members. Besides for having a numerical rank, each member also has an assigned title. The only exception to this is Xemnas, who, if anything else, is called "The Superior". The ranks and titles are as follows:

1. Xemnas; "The Superior"

2. Xigbar; "The Free Shooter"

3. Xaldin; "The Whirlwind Lancer"

4. Vexen; "The Chilly Academic"

5. Lexaeus; "The Silent Hero"

6. Zexion; "The Cloaked Schemer"

7. Saïx; "The Lunar Diviner"

8. Axel; "The Flurry of Dancing Flames"

9. Demyx; "The Melodius Nocturne"

10. Luxord; "The Gambler of Fate"

11. Marluxia; "The Graceful Assassin"

12. Larxene; "The Savage Nymph"

13. Roxas; "The Key of Destiny"

Each of the titles correspond to whichever element the particular member controls, or the type of weapon they have.