I'll be a lot of you are surprised and, upon seeing this title, were more than happy to correct me with the irrefutable proof Xion is, in fact, a useless blob, a Mary Sue, and that there are better characters to focus on.  Honestly, I agree with the last part.  The second part I already wrote an essay against.  I suppose one is going to refute the first part.

 

First off, I'm not necessarily advocating Xion's inclusion in Days.  I'm not examining her (lack of?) necessity.  I'm not decrying nor supporting her role in the story, and whether or not Days truly needed her to carry the story it wanted.  That's an argument for the fans and the haters, which can both be pretty obnoxious.  The only thing I'm doing is seeing how what is presented fits into KH's story.  The conclusion I drew is that Xion is the direct opposite of useless.  On the contrary, of the RAX trio, Xion has the most active role.

 

A lot of people are happy to whine at Xion for running away from her friends instead of telling them her problems.  They have the idea that all Xion needed to do was confide into her friends and everything would've been hunky dory, that they could have found a better solution if they all worked together, and that her keeping secrets made the whole thing worse because OMG what a stupid selfish bitch!!!1

 

Um, no.  Not really.  Okay, Xion keeping secrets wasn't good.  At no point did the story present it as the proper thing to do.  But when I thought about reasons for why Xion didn't tell them--which were sadly left mostly unexplored within the game proper--the more I realized how Xion had the best grasp of the situation out of everyone.  And not only was she was the only one who knew about the situation, she was the only one who actively did something about it.

 

Roxas and Xion needed to go back to Sora.  They couldn't coexist without killing each other, either.  There was no way around it, and Xion understood that.  Her running away and not telling her friends what's going on wasn't the best choice, because KH2 showed Roxas peacefully (though sadly) accepting his fate.  They probably could've avoided Roxas needing to kill her altogether and save him a lot of heartache.  BUT, there are factors that would make such an outcome really hard to pull off.  Axel is the main one.

 

Axel didn't give two shits about Sora.  He wanted to keep Roxas and Xion as his friends regardless if Sora got the shaft.  Wanting to keep them as his friends wasn't exactly unsympathetic, since friendship is in short supply as a Nobody in Organization XIII.  He wanted that friendship so badly he was willing to lie to Roxas and beat up Xion if it meant protecting them.  Just like Xion running away wasn't presented as good, neither was Axel's actions.  But, it seems weird how many people are quick to demonize Xion's actions while sympathizing with Axel (probably has something to do with the fanbase he had years to acquire).  In fact, it's damn near hypocritical to defend Axel on the basis of, "Well, what choice did he have?" while treating Xion as the only one truly in the wrong because hey, it's not like she had no choice either and Axel was the one actually stopping her from setting things right.

 

Had Xion confided into Axel, he really would've stopped both of them.  In fact, he would've made things worse for everyone.  There was nothing he could've realistically done to help their situation.  He couldn't stop how Roxas and Xion's coexistence would kill each other.  He wouldn't have let either of them merge back with Sora, whether or not they were willing.  He would've tried to talk them out of it, or failing that, keep them by force.  But, since he couldn't have done anything about the coexistence thing--and because he couldn't have helped them short of allowing Xion, who understood what she needed to do, to accomplish her goal--the only thing he accomplished was losing Roxas's trust.

 

Xion's a bitch?  Please.  Axel made the entire situation worse by preventing them from from understanding the situation.  For sympathetic reasons, definitely, but I'm sorry--you cannot demonize Xion without demonizing Axel as well.  You either sympathize with both or you sympathize with neither.  I do the former.  Everyone had to draw their own conclusions because Roxas wanted to know the truth about himself, and Xion did know and had to merge back with Sora to set everything right.  Axel prevented the both of them from doing so.

 

(Sorry, I'm not a big Axel fan [or a big Xion fan for that matter], so I have no bias goggles on to speak of.  I honestly do believe people automatically defend Axel over Xion simply because they like him better, not out of any true examination of who was more right or wrong.)

 

Xion was the only one who knew what was going on, but unlike Axel and Roxas, she actually had solutions to do something about it.  She sought out Riku and Namine for help, because she couldn't have trusted her friends.  Doing so would've just made things more complicated.  She's the only one who actively did something about what was happening to her.

 

Of course, just as many people hate Xion precisely because she does so much, which supposedly takes away the focus on the important characters.  Oh well, that's the Kingdom Hearts fanbase for you--no matter what happens, someone bitches about it.

That's fine. But they get mad at me when I say she didn't need to be there. I mean. My fav character is Demyx and I can admit he isn't important.

 

Well, when you tell someone a character they like doesn't need to be there--especially when they're a main character--they usually won't give you dandelions. Thing is with Demyx is that he had a minor role and only got a handful of scenes, so even his fans can say he isn't that important in the grand scheme of things.  It's a bit different when you're referring to a main character who gets plenty of screen time (for better or for worse, depending on if you're a fan of her).

But in the end Xion is still a plot device.

One could argue that some lead antagonists in stories are just plot devices used to cause conflict. (romantic comedies, the "bad guy", it doesn't matter what character you stick in here as long as they are worse than the protagonist and cause conflict) I am pretty sure you can notice similar things in some melodramas as well.I am not trying to defend Xion by saying this, but in the first game Mickey was basically a MacGuffin. He had practically no plot significance other than to move Donald and Goofy forwards. And at the end he didn't even help push the door shut, he only helped lock it. Essentially you could have stuck a different character in the same roll, and just acted like they were important and had the similar results. (I am excluding the popularity of Mickey and the anticipation of finally seeing him in the game because he was expected from the start) Because he was simply a plot device. Basically what I am trying to say if you can basically just replace one character with another character that has a totally different personality with the same alignment and get the exact same results, chances are someone could argue they are just a plot device.

 

So now I ask you, do you think they could have just through in any random character in Xion's place and had the same results? If not, I would have to say she was more than just a plot device. Does that mean she was needed? Who knows, but if she appeared in the writer's vision of the work, and how it should be seen, then yes, absolutely she was needed. Because what ever your belief, every character a writer puts into a story is put in their for a purpose. And the writer is almost* always right because it is their story to tell.*There might be a few exceptions, notably out of place things in historical fiction. Or possibly the writer not thinking clearly and then sticks by what he wrote even though he would like to change it. There could be a few other exceptions but the point is the writer has the ultimate say in the matter of what is right for the story.

I better stop before I turn this thread into something bad. :x

I better stop before I turn this thread into something bad. :x

 

Xion's a character that tends to invoke such things, yes.

 

Wait, I thought KH13 was all about fighting.  Peaceful discussions?  lol nah.

Xion's a character that tends to invoke such things, yes.

 

Wait, I thought KH13 was all about fighting.  Peaceful discussions?  lol nah.

Nah, peaceful discussions here. IF you wanna see fighting, head over to KHInsider

Draco. As of now I officially love you

Well written!!!! I love it when people stick up for Xion.... And Axel, but he doesn't need it as much. As for how none of the trio handled the situation right, they are Nobodies, and unaccustomed to emotion, not to mention Roxas and Xion haven't existed even a year yet. Good job!!!

Xion is just one of those characters who's easy to hate when viewing her from a specific view point.  She's also one of those characters who's easy to love when viewing her from a specific viewpoint.  Some call her selfish, I call her tragic and misguided.  Deal with it.

 

Xion hate is a dime a dozen.  Xion defense?  Far less common.  Why not try sticking up for characters who aren't almost unanimously loved?

Xion hate is pointless.

You make a really good point there.

Edited July 22, 20205 yr by roxas121