Larxene
- "More pain for you means more fun for me!"
- —Larxene
Larxene, the Savage Nymph (非情の妖姫 Hijō no Yōhime, lit. The Callous Princess), is Rank XII within Organization XIII, and was originally thought to be the only female member. She wields the element of Lightning, and uses her element to bombard opponents with rapid attacks while also attacking them with her weapons, electrified throwing knives.
Larxene plays a large role in Sora's storyline during the events of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, appearing frequently to taunt Sora and taking delight in the rage and agony she spurs in him. She will appear as a playable character in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days multiplayer mode.
Journal Entries
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
A member of the group that controls Castle Oblivion.
Larxene is unfeeling and loves nothing more than to bring other people down.
She is on good terms with Axel but still mocks everyone and trusts no one.
- Reverse/Rebirth
No. 12 in the Organization.
Larxene conspired with Marluxia to take over the group, and intended to pull Axel in as well.
However, her abrasive, unfeeling personality proved her downfall--provoking Sora's anger was a fatal error.
Kingdom Hearts II
Formerly Organization XIII's Number XII. She has been eliminated.
Larxene conspired with Marluxia to turn on the Organization.
Larxene was unfeeling and loved nothing more than to bring people down, but she met her demise when that malice came full circle.
Story
Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Memories
| File:Larxene-ChofMem.png | File:Larxene-souriante.png |
Larxene is one of the Organization members assigned to work under Marluxia in Castle Oblivion, which Marluxia holds as a fortress for the Organization's research into memories. Marluxia and Larxene with the aid of both Axel and Vexen, who are actually working against them in secret, conspire to usurp control of the Organization and the Nobodies from its leader, who at the time is unknown to Sora. The Organization reveals themselves to Sora slowly, at first appearing to be helpful by providing him with the means to fight within the castle. (Sora had lost all of his abilities due to memory loss.) Marluxia fights in disguise to instruct Sora in the use of battle cards, and Axel later fights Sora to test his strength. Larxene fights him next, with the intention of antagonizing him, and "helps" him to remember Naminé's name; after further mocking him, Larxene threatens to destroy Kairi's Lucky Charm (having been altered to reflect Sora's false memories of Naminé), but Sora knocks it out of her hands and beats her in a fight. She laughs it off later, telling Axel she is winded from "throwing the fight", though Axel does not buy it.
After she loses the battle and speaks to Axel, Axel makes an off-hand comment about using a captive girl, Naminé, to aid them in taking control of Organization XIII. Larxene, believing Axel to be in on the plot, voices her support for it, but as she leaves, Axel remarks that she should have kept it quiet.
Soon after Vexen introduces the Riku Replica to Marluxia, it is decided that his memories will have to be replaced if he is to be of any use against Sora. When the Replica objects to this and attacks Larxene, she easily halts his effort and smacks him into a wall, coldly referring to him as nothing more than a toy.
Later, when Vexen battles Sora to observe him, Marluxia and Larxene begin to doubt his sincerity to their cause. They decide to compel Vexen to pursue Sora by threatening to tell the "Superior" of the failure of the Riku Replica. Vexen is confused at the orders, since Sora's death would ruin Marluxia's plans to use him against the Organization's head members. Although Vexen is number IV and Marluxia number XI, Marluxia had been given authority over the castle; this coupled with Vexen's fear of Xemnas compels him to engage Sora in a simulated Twilight Town, despite his confusion. Vexen fails, and plans to tell Sora about Roxas in order to break Marluxia's plans for controlling him.
Axel cuts him off by killing him just before he speaks, having been ordered to eliminate him as a traitor to the conspiracy. When Axel returns, Larxene mentions that they previously had not been sure if Axel would have done it and that the usurping of Organization XIII would be easier with Axel. In this way Axel earns the trust of both Larxene and Marluxia.
Death
As Sora continues to make his way toward the top of Castle Oblivion, both Larxene and Marluxia leave Naminé to be guarded by Axel. However, Axel allows her to escape. Shortly afterwards, Larxene appears before Sora after the Riku Replica had taken a
potshot, weakening him. Furious over Axel's betrayal and Naminé's interference, she reveals to him the true nature of the Riku Replica as well, also elaborating on Naminé's misdeeds. Naminé tries to stop Larxene from killing Sora, but she is knocked aside. Sora reveals that he is still intent on protecting Naminé despite learning the truth, which perplexes Larxene. Nonetheless, Larxene moves in for the kill, but before she can deliver the coup de grace, Donald and Goofy, who had been separated from Sora earlier, finally catch up to him; Goofy knocks her back and Donald heals Sora, who, angry at Larxene's cruelty, initiates a final battle with the female Nobody. Though she fights with powerful thunder magic and her knives, Sora defeats her, making her the first Organization member to fall at their hands since Vexen, who "fell" first, was destroyed by Axel.
Personality
- "The heart is a mysterious thing, Axel."
- — Larxene, in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Although Larxene is normally smiling and even winking at times in-game, she can be cold, ruthless, cruel, abrasive, and uncaring, and appears to love nothing more than to bring other people down. However, in complete contrast, she has a undeniable sense of naivete, whose trust goes to others who share the same motives and whose thoughts correlate with hers. She exudes childish behavior, excessively laughs and giggles, and not only has wit and sarcasm, with a sharp tongue, but also her jokes compose of ill-humor. Laidback, and almost passive to those she likes, or refer to as good company, she expresses herself very immensely, constantly making outrageous expressions, and seems to be a woman of strong personality. She taunts Vexen incessantly after he is threatened with charges of treason and incompetence from Marluxia, though that could be connected to personal dislike of the man, and toys with Sora before fighting him the first time. In fact, she even leads Sora to believe that she is a nice person, just trying to help point him in the right direction: "The bad guys have her (Naminé) locked away. And you, as the hero, need to go save her!" She then smiles and attacks him, sending him flying with a powerful kick and informs him that she is a "bad guy", mocking his failure to remember Naminé. After she discovers Axel's betrayal and sees that Marluxia's and her plans have fallen apart, her friendly manner vanishes and she attacks Sora in a rage. Nevertheless, surprisingly in death, she sounds out a cry, and sadness as she is fading, showing a side of her that had yet to be seen before that compares to Saïx's own demise in the game, and brings to question if she truly is what she has presented herself to be the whole time.
However, Larxene's cruelty and sadism was ultimately proven to be her own undoing, as she ultimately pushes Sora too far and suffers his wrath after injuring Naminé.
Fighting Style
Larxene is an exceptionally capable fighter; both times she talks to Sora, she is able to kick and jab him repeatedly faster than he can retaliate, and the second time she does this, it nearly kills Sora, requiring Donald to heal him. She is also strong enough to hold the Riku Replica by the head, and easily toss it across the room with one hand. Her strength is clearly known by many of the characters, such as the Riku Replica who claims to fear nothing, yet cowers at Larxene.
Larxene's physical fighting skills resemble that of a ninja. She uses her knives between her fingers to act like claws, and is able to infuse them with electricity and throw them at Sora. She is also the most agile member of the Organization, often using quick kicks and jabs to produce extra pain to the opponent, and when she first met Sora she was even able to plant Naminé's fake charm on him while kicking him. Along with her manipulative nature, this sadism earned her the title "Savage Nymph".
With magic, Larxene is able to able to call down lightning upon the battlefield, as well as to perform levitation and local teleportation. Her sleights and special abilities all involve her uses of these abilities.
In Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix, she can be battled as an Absent Silhouette and as data, but this time she uses totally different tactics. She can split herself into multiple copies that attack Sora individually or in concert, and her attacks focus more on physical strikes than magic. However, she still uses some thunder magic, the strongest of which is a revolving wall of ball lightning similar to Hades' wall of fire. By using the reaction command "Other Break," Sora can stun her by throwing her "back into herself".
Quotes
"You seem pretty intrigued by this Sora kid."
"Haven't decided yet."
"Predictable response."
"I think what intrigues me more is what you see in him..."
"They lose their minds and feelings...They’re consumed by the darkness."
"It's the strength of his heart...That’s what intrigues you. Why the Keyblade chose Sora’s heart."
"Just as we intended."
"You had your fun on the first floor. So this time, it's my turn."
"I'm not just going to give it to him."
"Well, do I detect a soft spot? I'm not gonna break the toy. I'm not dumb."
"I know that you're in on it, too...But keep it under your hood, at least until the time is right."
Trivia
- Larxene is arguably the fastest member of Organization XIII, based on her Teleport Rush sleight in Chain of Memories, and her clone attacks in Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix.
- Larxene was one of two characters that additional voice acting was done for in the original Chain of Memories (the other character being Vexen).
- In the Manga, Larxene explodes after getting wet when Donald uses a Fire spell to melt Sora's Blizzard spell while Goofy spins them around, creating a sprinkler effect.
- Larxene is one of only five organization members shown to be able to make full-body copies of themselves, the other four being Marluxia, Vexen, Zexion, and Xemnas.
- Though exclusive to multi-player mode in 358/2 Days, Larxene will be the first playable female character in the series.
- It should be noted that Larxene bears a resemblance to Elena of FFVII's Turks. The lettering of their names is also similar, aside from an "r" and the obvious "x." If read slightly differently in the original, her name appears to be Laxene, which is an anagram of 'Elena', minus the 'x'. However, their personalities are very different.
- In Kingdom Hearts II, Larxene has pale blonde hair. In Re:Chain of Memories, her hair is pure blonde.
