Editing Χ-blade

{{DISPLAYTITLE:{{lcfirst:{{PAGENAME}}}}}}

{{Q|"χ"... A most ancient letter. Some say "kye," but the meaning is the same. Death... A letter that spells endings.|Master Xehanort}}

The '''χ-blade''' is a legendary weapon introduced in ''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep]]''. It is the original after which all [[Keyblades]] are imperfectly modeled from. Rather than being a man-made key to an artificial [[Kingdom Hearts]], like the [[Keyblade of heart]], it coexists with the true Kingdom Hearts itself, a perfect union of all hearts and worlds, and is the only thing that can summon its door.{{storylink|Xehanort's Report VII}} According to legend, the [[Keyblade War]] occurred because of the many souls who desired to take the χ-blade and Kingdom Hearts for themselves, and Master [[Xehanort]] later enacts his plots with the same goal in mind.

Originally, the χ-blade was the counterpart of [[Kingdom Hearts]], for which it acted as protector. The [[Master of Masters]] studied the χ-blade and learned to extract Keyblades from people's hearts as a result.<ref>'''''{{w|Weekly Famitsu}}'''''<!--If anyone knows which volume issue this is, please add it-->, pg. 198; '''Tetsuya Nomura:''' "The Master knows about its existence. Using the χ-blade as a model, he creates his own Keyblades. Well, by create I don't mean that in the physical sense, such as forging and tempering them, I mean more along the lines of pulling one out from the depths of a heart." [https://www.khinsider.com/news/Famitsu-showcases-Kingdom-Hearts-HD-2-8-Nomura-interview-released-8108 Translation via Saken and Goldpanner].</ref> In the aftermath of the Keyblade War, a conflict over the [[Lux]] of the world, the χ-blade splintered into twenty pieces: seven fragments of pure light, which eventually become the [[Princess of Heart|seven princesses]]' hearts, and thirteen shards of darkness. It is unknown what became of the thirteen shards of darkness.

The χ-blade and the Keyblade War itself passed into legend in the generations after with the cause of the war itself being distorted by the legends as people came to believe that Keyblade wielders who sought to take the light of Kingdom Hearts for themselves and created "[[Keyblade]]s" in the image of the χ-blade, and they clashed together in the legendary [[Keyblade War]].

In the early stages of his quest to recreate the χ-blade, Xehanort did not want to go through the trouble of having seven light and thirteen darknesses clash, and opted to find a more efficient method. He eventually discovered the χ-blade can be created when a heart of pure light and a heart of pure darkness, both of equal strength, clashed together, which he noted on one of his reports.  

Xehanort sets his plans in motion, and the χ-blade is created at the [[Keyblade Graveyard]] through [[Ventus-Vanitas]]'s forced union. However, the legendary weapon itself is incomplete. Although it appeared complete in the real world, it took on a broken and incomplete form in Ventus's [[Dive to the Heart]]. Vanitas attempts to complete the fusion within their combined heart, but Ventus sacrifices himself to stop Vanitas. This causes the χ-blade to become unstable during Ventus-Vanitas's simultaneous fight with [[Aqua]] and [[Mickey Mouse]], and it explodes in the physical world, while Ventus falls into a coma. The explosion was large enough to blow Mickey, Aqua, and Ventus away from the Keyblade Graveyard and into the [[Lanes Between]].

After seeing this failure, Xehanort realized his method of creating the χ-blade was not the correct way to recreate the χ-blade and he eventually decided to go about it the proper way by manipulating [[Maleficent]] to find the Princesses of Heart while he prepared thirteen vessels of darkness by creating Organization XIII.

Although Sora had ruined the initial plan, Master Xehanort had anticipated interference and arranged for Ansem to go back in time and share his time-traveling ability with [[Young Xehanort]], sending him to gather twelve incarnations of himself from across time to form [[real Organization XIII|a second Organization XIII]]. After failing to "recruit" Sora as the final Organization member, the gathered members return to their respective places in time, with the intention of meeting again in the future to recreate the χ-blade.

[[File:Checkmate 03 KHIII.png|thumb|200px|right|Sora uses the χ-blade to close Kingdom Hearts.]]

Master Xehanort finally forges the χ-blade in the Keyblade Graveyard, after all clashes between the [[Seven Guardians of Light]] and his thirteen seekers of darkness have taken place, the final clash being an enraged Sora attacking Xehanort himself after he crystallizes [[Kairi]]. Xehanort's [[No Name]] turns into the χ-blade, which he uses to open [[Kingdom Hearts]].  

The incomplete χ-blade's coloring is more red-orange than bluish-yellow, and the blade is slightly covered with an aura of darkness. It also has chips in the side of the blade, lacks a part of the filigree on one side, and part of the Kingdom Key's hilt is missing, making it look somehow broken or shattered.  

The [[Keychain]] is a black and red heart that is similar to the [[Heartless]] symbol, only without the ''fleur-de-lis'' bottom and jagged cross, with two Kingdom Keys crossed over it. The chain starts out as two separate chains that form into one.The Keychain's two crossed Kingdom Keys is reminiscent of the {{w|Papacy#Regalia and insignia|symbol}} of the "Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven". Although it is not seen in this incarnation, it is especially significant that the Kingdom Key has a silver blade and gold hilt, and the [[Kingdom Key D]] has a gold blade and silver hilt, matching the keys on the symbol. When the χ-blade hits a target, the released symbols are gold and dark blue stars, symbolic of light and darkness.

The data replica of Master Xehanort can Formchange the χ-blade into several transformations, such as floating cannons, a spinning top, whip, chakram, gauntlet claws, and a double-bladed lance.

Although χ-blade is pronounced "Keyblade", the letter "χ" is the letter {{w|Chi (letter)|chi}} from the {{w|Greek alphabet}}. This is why the name of the weapon is spelled "χ-blade", but, as Master Xehanort explains, can be pronounced "Kye-blade". Master Xehanort explains to Ventus, with a visual demonstration of the ancient letter "χ", that he is not referring to a Keyblade that Keyblade Wielders use. He continues to state that the letter itself carries a meaning of "death" and that it "spells endings".

χ-blade (Incomplete) KHBBS.png|The broken χ-blade.