User:Glitchseeker/sandbox/Xion

Xion (シオン) is a fictional character from Square Enix's video game franchise Kingdom Hearts. She was introduced in the 2009 game Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days as the newest and fourteenth member of Organization XIII, a group composed of Nobodies, beings created from people who lost their heart. In her time working for Organization XIII, Xion befriends Roxas, another new member from the Organization, as well as veteran member Axel. In contrast to her comrades, Xion does not bear memories from her original self and instead starts receiving memories from other people. This leads her to learn about her true nature as a replica of Sora, the series' protagonist and Roxas' original self, as well as what she should do. In the Japanese version, the character is voiced by Risa Uchida. In the English version, she is voiced by Alyson Stoner in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and then by Hayden Panettiere for following games.

Xion was conceptualized during development of the game Kingdom Hearts II in which the staff wanted to explain the reason why Roxas left Organization XIII. Additionally, the staff wanted to create a new member from the cartel but having a different nature from all the other members. While scenario writer Tomoko Tanemaki came up with the idea for her character, director Tetsuya Nomura designed her. Xion's character has been well received by video game publications due to her role in 358/2 Days as well as her relationship with Roxas and Axel.

Appearances
Xion appears in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days as the newest member from Organization XIII. During her time with the Organization, Xion befriends fellow member Roxas who, like her, has the ability to summon the Keyblade weapon to capture hearts for the Organization's ambition. She also befriends Axel after he and Roxas cover for her when she temporarily loses her ability to use the Keyblade. Later in the game, she begins questioning her nature of existence after being defeated by the Organization impostor Riku and experiencing several memories unknown to her. She discovers that she is an imperfect replica of a boy named Sora created by the Organization from his memories to replicate Roxas's powers, and that her existence prevents Sora from regaining the memories he lost during the events of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. She is torn between staying with her friends and merging with Sora, but decides to leave the Organization to protect Roxas after realizing that Sora's memories are making her stronger while weakening Roxas. However, Axel is forced to capture her and return her to the Organization's leader Xemnas, who reprograms her to carry out her true purpose of absorbing Roxas and becoming a perfect replica of Sora. The fight ends in her fading from existence before asking Roxas to stop Xemnas's plans. Her existence merges with Sora, which causes everyone else's memories of her to disappear.

Although Xion does not appear in Kingdom Hearts coded, she is mentioned as one of the people that, while gone, are connected to Sora's heart. Xion makes a cameo appearance during the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep as well as during Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. Her role in 358/2 Days is also reprised in Shiro Amano's manga and Tomoko Kanemaki's light novel adaptations of the game.

Creation and development
The idea of Xion's character was made during development of Kingdom Hearts II, game in which the staff showed Roxas leaving Organization XIII. They thought that such action was due to the influence of someone close to him and chose a female character from his own age. Therefore, they started expanded such ideas in order to build the story of 358/2 Days. The staff started to make her character starting with the reason of her existence in the story. Scenario writer Tomoko Kanemaki had the idea of her name, which convinced Tetsuya Nomura due to the several meanings it brought as well as Kanemaki's knowledge of the Kingdom Hearts series, being the writer of its light novels. Kanemaki explained various of the meanings of such as that it corresponded with the character Naminé (ナミネ) as well as the word Shio (潮) and an anagram of "X" and "No.i", the latter being an imaginary number. Another meaning from the name is the flower Aster tataricus (紫苑) which can be translated to "I won't forget you" or "remembrance." Kanemaki came up with the idea of Xion being a replica when writing the novel adaptations of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories in which a replica from Riku was introduced and she wished to expand that concept. Like Riku's replica from Chain of Memories, the staff initially had the idea that Xion was supposed fight Roxas to prove she was a real person. However, such idea was scrapped to keep Xion as a well-meaning girl.

The revelation of her being the fourteenth member of the Organization was meant to cause stir and reflected it in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days with the dialogues from the character Saïx. Ever since the start of her creation, the staff already decided she would have a deep connection with Kairi, and so based Xion on her but with a different hair color. Xion's black hair was requested by Kanemaki as she wanted Nomura to design black haired female character. However, when they made a design of her, her hair was changed, giving it a different style from Kairi's. Although Nomura pointed that Xion, Kairi and Namine had the same 3D polygon model's faces and differing only in their hairs, he stated that the three had individual personalities. The staff also wanted to bring confusion to fans to make them wonder if Xion was Kairi's Nobody, sharing physical similarities, musical themes, Kairi's Japanese voice actress Risa Uchida, and English voice actresses Alyson Stoner (Kairi's voice actress in Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days) and Hayden Panettiere (Kairi's voice actress in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep).

Additionally, since the staff started writing the 358/2 Days, they thought it would be boring that all characters from Organization XIII were Nobodies and wanted Xion to be exception. As another means to bring confusion to gamers, the staff made Xion's hood appear and disappear depending on which characters would look at her. This caused various misunderstandings in the making of the game to the point debuggers often asked Nomura if that was software bug. Yukari Ishida, another scenario writer, commented that the staff had to explain to h.a.n.d. about the reasons for Xion's hood as well as how it should work in the game. Ishida also pointed that the first part of the game revolved around Xion and wanted her to have a quicker realization about herself than Roxas in order to later influence Roxas, and thus lead into the events of Kingdom Hearts II. Nomura later explained he made Xion to be a calm and pure girl, and wanted Aqua, another female character introduced later, to contrast her personality. After trailers of 358/2 Days were shown, Xion was first believed to have been Naminé, but Nomura later informed the press that it was a different character. Nomura still pointed she would a key character and reason for the Organization being not named XIV despite her being the fourteenth member would be explained in the game. A Pinocchio-based world was intended to be included in the game to feature a chapter focusing on Xion and Roxas "looking for hope for themselves", but such story was not added due to system-constraints. In the Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix voice actress Alyson Stoner returned to voice additional lines for the character.

Reception
RPGFan's Ashton Liu found Xion and the other members from Organization XIII besides Axel and Roxas as unappealing in contrast to previous characters featured in the series. In the 2009 Nintendo Power Awards, the magazine's readers voted Xion the "Best New Character" of the year. Xion's death is considered by some to be the saddest videogame death in the history of the Kingdom Hearts Series. She is considered to be the most tragic figure of the series. Additionally, her relationship with Roxas listed fourth on the Entertainment Monthly's list of the Top Ten Tragic Video Game Relationships owing in part of her death and the fact that he doesn't remember her in the end due to her nature and then later loses his life due to the manipulation of Ansem.