Xigbar (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brokenallthelaws) wrote2019-04-04 11:08 pm
brokenallthelaws) wrote2019-04-04 11:08 pm
Info Post
Character Name: Xigbar (previously Braig, previously Luxu)
Series: Kingdom Hearts
Age: Physically in his 30s, although he may come across as being older thanks to the gray streaks in his hair. Actually Really Goddamn Old - possibly as much as several millennia old
Inmate/Warden: Inmate. Xigbar has misled and/or manipulated pretty much everyone he's shown to interact with since having given up his original name (his peers, his bosses, teenagers, children...) and has had at least a partial hand in making sure that the main antagonist's plans have stayed on track. This in turn means he's had a hand (directly or indirectly) in dragging people into a quasi-cult, running a series of long cons, a number of people being unwillingly (and in some cases unknowingly) possessed, the general spread of chaos and destruction, and the destruction of at least one world. At no point has he shown the slightest amount of remorse for any of this.
Arrival: Involuntary
History: {coming soon}
Personality: Upon first meeting him, most people would likely be inclined to come to the conclusion that Xigbar is, in fact, a generally chill sort of person, if perhaps also one who is also inclined to be something somewhere between a troll and a walking shitpost. Enough so, in fact, that while he is part of the main group of antagonists, his generally laid-back demeanor and willingness to simply roll with things makes it feel almost as if he's more along for the ride instead of actually being committed to The Greater Plan. This is not to say that he's a slacker, mind! His work is one of the few things he seems to actually take seriously, although this doesn't exactly keep him from maintaining an air of almost jovial nonchalance about it, on the few occasions that he's on a mission with another person - or, for that matter, when he runs into the main protagonist. And even then, he's usually far more willing to simply drop a cryptic remark or three and then take his leave rather than actually pick a fight.
When he's not on the clock - a period of time that seems to encompass any point that he's not actively out on a mission - Xigbar mostly spends his time lounging around, dropping vaguely cryptic tidbits at his coworkers, eavesdropping on other people's conversations, and otherwise just doing his best to be a minor annoyance. Add in the fact that he's pretty free with the more casual sorts of physical contact and very rarely comes off as being genuinely mean-spirited despite being inclined to make wisecracks, and it would be easy to assume that Xigbar is, at least, relatively tolerable despite being technically a villain, provided one can either overlook or otherwise tolerate his cryptic remarks and generally troll-ish nature. This is not, precisely, wrong.
On the other hand, neither is it entirely right. While there is some truth to his chill, laid-back persona, most especially in the more trollish parts of his nature, the persona that he lets most people see is, in fact, largely a facade designed to make him underestimate him. It's here that one can start to see the truth of who Xigbar actually is, and that truth is that Xigbar is not only a lot sharper than he might let on, but also that he is absolutely not the good-natured quasi-decent person he seems to be at first glance. Instead, he's a man who has been lying about his intentions, his true nature, and even his goals for the last twelve years or so, to the point that very few people have been able to pierce the web of lies, half-truths and misdirections enough to even start scratching the surface of who he actually is. And just in case this wasn't bad enough, he is absolutely ruthless when it comes to his decisions and following his goals, to the point that his reaction to nearly half of the villainous organization he belongs to being wiped out was to comment on how much quieter things were in their headquarters rather than any sort of regret or remorse. After all, things were still on track as far as his goals were concerned, so why should he bother to care too much about the deaths of his comrades, unfortunate though they were?
This also extends to combat. While it would be easy to look at the outward exterior he presents as well his tendency to largely avoid fights and come to the conclusion that he's not much of a fighter, this is absolutely not the case. Instead, he is very much a formidable opponent, and one who is not at all inclined to play fair besides, be it something as simple as taking full advantage of his spatial manipulation and teleportation to stay at his preferred range, or something as drastic as threatening to shoot an opponent who had been fully immobilized. A threat, which it should be noted, he seemed to be perfectly willing to make good on, had it not been for his getting dragged into a fight with someone else. Similarly, it should be noted that while his own goals are not, precisely, the same as the Xehanort's goals, they still align well enough with those goals that Xigbar was willing to go along with them, to the point that he's one of the few people to actually know the full details of Xehanort's plan. Nor did he, at any point, raise a hand to actually attempt to derail those plans. Instead, he helped make sure they stayed on target, even when the casualties started to include entire worlds - while he may not be quite as loyal as Xehanort might think he is, he has still died for Xehanort's plan and would quite possibly kill for it.
However, even this isn't the entire truth of who Xigbar is. While he is undeniably a thoroughly horrible person, and that is very much part of who he is, underneath everything else is the truth that he lets basically no one else see. The part that is the closest to the person he was once, and the very point to the myriad layers of lies, half-truths and misdirections: a tired old man, who has kept watch over one very specific thing since time immemorial regardless of how many years it might take until he could be freed of his vigil and reunited with his long-forgotten friends. More to the point, the fact that he has very much taken the slow path to the future means that there is very little that is genuinely new to him, and correspondingly very little that he isn't willing to roll with. This, in turn, helps to fuel both the impression of being generally chill and laid-back that is a core part of the facade he projects, as well as the cryptic hints he drops besides. Especially the ones that suggest that he knows more than he immediately lets on, since he actually does know a whole lot more than anyone might guess, given that he's kept his true self so well-hidden.
On the flip side of this, however, is the fact that - judging by the few instances we see of this aspect of Xigbar - he is just done. With waiting, with watching, with the whole rigamarole of changing bodies, and everything else that has gone into his long vigil. Not so much so that he's willing to give up the whole thing - he's gotten this far already, and if nothing else he's stubborn enough to see the rest of it through - but enough that he'd been willing to take a more active role in affairs. The result of that decision is what brought his path in line with Xehanort's, helping to kick off a majority of the overarching plot of the series as well as a very long con, as Xigbar - then Braig - took on a persona that meant lying about everything he is and was in order to keep a closer eye on things. (Which it should be noted, actually worked, to the point that Xehanort seems to have had no clue about Xigbar's true goals.) As of his current canon point, with the culmination of his goals very nearly within reach, some of his patience is starting to fray around the edges but even despite that he maintains both his habitual facade and the associated framework of lies; it's only when he finally is reunited with his friends so long ago that he even so much as admits to being Luxu in truth. As this has not yet happened for him as of his arrival to the Barge - and in the absence of anyone who actually knows that name besides - he's going to fall back on old habits and long-established patterns, and simply continue right on keeping that part of his history an absolute secret.
Series: Kingdom Hearts
Age: Physically in his 30s, although he may come across as being older thanks to the gray streaks in his hair. Actually Really Goddamn Old - possibly as much as several millennia old
Inmate/Warden: Inmate. Xigbar has misled and/or manipulated pretty much everyone he's shown to interact with since having given up his original name (his peers, his bosses, teenagers, children...) and has had at least a partial hand in making sure that the main antagonist's plans have stayed on track. This in turn means he's had a hand (directly or indirectly) in dragging people into a quasi-cult, running a series of long cons, a number of people being unwillingly (and in some cases unknowingly) possessed, the general spread of chaos and destruction, and the destruction of at least one world. At no point has he shown the slightest amount of remorse for any of this.
Arrival: Involuntary
History: {coming soon}
Personality: Upon first meeting him, most people would likely be inclined to come to the conclusion that Xigbar is, in fact, a generally chill sort of person, if perhaps also one who is also inclined to be something somewhere between a troll and a walking shitpost. Enough so, in fact, that while he is part of the main group of antagonists, his generally laid-back demeanor and willingness to simply roll with things makes it feel almost as if he's more along for the ride instead of actually being committed to The Greater Plan. This is not to say that he's a slacker, mind! His work is one of the few things he seems to actually take seriously, although this doesn't exactly keep him from maintaining an air of almost jovial nonchalance about it, on the few occasions that he's on a mission with another person - or, for that matter, when he runs into the main protagonist. And even then, he's usually far more willing to simply drop a cryptic remark or three and then take his leave rather than actually pick a fight.
When he's not on the clock - a period of time that seems to encompass any point that he's not actively out on a mission - Xigbar mostly spends his time lounging around, dropping vaguely cryptic tidbits at his coworkers, eavesdropping on other people's conversations, and otherwise just doing his best to be a minor annoyance. Add in the fact that he's pretty free with the more casual sorts of physical contact and very rarely comes off as being genuinely mean-spirited despite being inclined to make wisecracks, and it would be easy to assume that Xigbar is, at least, relatively tolerable despite being technically a villain, provided one can either overlook or otherwise tolerate his cryptic remarks and generally troll-ish nature. This is not, precisely, wrong.
On the other hand, neither is it entirely right. While there is some truth to his chill, laid-back persona, most especially in the more trollish parts of his nature, the persona that he lets most people see is, in fact, largely a facade designed to make him underestimate him. It's here that one can start to see the truth of who Xigbar actually is, and that truth is that Xigbar is not only a lot sharper than he might let on, but also that he is absolutely not the good-natured quasi-decent person he seems to be at first glance. Instead, he's a man who has been lying about his intentions, his true nature, and even his goals for the last twelve years or so, to the point that very few people have been able to pierce the web of lies, half-truths and misdirections enough to even start scratching the surface of who he actually is. And just in case this wasn't bad enough, he is absolutely ruthless when it comes to his decisions and following his goals, to the point that his reaction to nearly half of the villainous organization he belongs to being wiped out was to comment on how much quieter things were in their headquarters rather than any sort of regret or remorse. After all, things were still on track as far as his goals were concerned, so why should he bother to care too much about the deaths of his comrades, unfortunate though they were?
This also extends to combat. While it would be easy to look at the outward exterior he presents as well his tendency to largely avoid fights and come to the conclusion that he's not much of a fighter, this is absolutely not the case. Instead, he is very much a formidable opponent, and one who is not at all inclined to play fair besides, be it something as simple as taking full advantage of his spatial manipulation and teleportation to stay at his preferred range, or something as drastic as threatening to shoot an opponent who had been fully immobilized. A threat, which it should be noted, he seemed to be perfectly willing to make good on, had it not been for his getting dragged into a fight with someone else. Similarly, it should be noted that while his own goals are not, precisely, the same as the Xehanort's goals, they still align well enough with those goals that Xigbar was willing to go along with them, to the point that he's one of the few people to actually know the full details of Xehanort's plan. Nor did he, at any point, raise a hand to actually attempt to derail those plans. Instead, he helped make sure they stayed on target, even when the casualties started to include entire worlds - while he may not be quite as loyal as Xehanort might think he is, he has still died for Xehanort's plan and would quite possibly kill for it.
However, even this isn't the entire truth of who Xigbar is. While he is undeniably a thoroughly horrible person, and that is very much part of who he is, underneath everything else is the truth that he lets basically no one else see. The part that is the closest to the person he was once, and the very point to the myriad layers of lies, half-truths and misdirections: a tired old man, who has kept watch over one very specific thing since time immemorial regardless of how many years it might take until he could be freed of his vigil and reunited with his long-forgotten friends. More to the point, the fact that he has very much taken the slow path to the future means that there is very little that is genuinely new to him, and correspondingly very little that he isn't willing to roll with. This, in turn, helps to fuel both the impression of being generally chill and laid-back that is a core part of the facade he projects, as well as the cryptic hints he drops besides. Especially the ones that suggest that he knows more than he immediately lets on, since he actually does know a whole lot more than anyone might guess, given that he's kept his true self so well-hidden.
On the flip side of this, however, is the fact that - judging by the few instances we see of this aspect of Xigbar - he is just done. With waiting, with watching, with the whole rigamarole of changing bodies, and everything else that has gone into his long vigil. Not so much so that he's willing to give up the whole thing - he's gotten this far already, and if nothing else he's stubborn enough to see the rest of it through - but enough that he'd been willing to take a more active role in affairs. The result of that decision is what brought his path in line with Xehanort's, helping to kick off a majority of the overarching plot of the series as well as a very long con, as Xigbar - then Braig - took on a persona that meant lying about everything he is and was in order to keep a closer eye on things. (Which it should be noted, actually worked, to the point that Xehanort seems to have had no clue about Xigbar's true goals.) As of his current canon point, with the culmination of his goals very nearly within reach, some of his patience is starting to fray around the edges but even despite that he maintains both his habitual facade and the associated framework of lies; it's only when he finally is reunited with his friends so long ago that he even so much as admits to being Luxu in truth. As this has not yet happened for him as of his arrival to the Barge - and in the absence of anyone who actually knows that name besides - he's going to fall back on old habits and long-established patterns, and simply continue right on keeping that part of his history an absolute secret.