Kingdom Hearts: Who Is Luxu?

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• Who Is Luxu?

• How Did Luxu Become Braig?

• Why Did Luxu Help Xehanort?

The long and sometimes winding story behind the Kingdom Hearts games can sometimes feel like an insurmountable tale to grasp. With all sorts of Disney, Final Fantasy, and original characters spread across more than a dozen games from various console generations, keeping the events of the game in order can be a bit of a hurdle for players.

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One of the most convoluted reveals from across the Kingdom Hearts series was the build-up and reveal of a surprisingly vital character, Luxu. Who is this mysterious figure and what importance has he played in shaping the events of the games?

Okay, so, Luxu has a long and wild history even for the characteristically convoluted plot surrounding the games. Much of what is going to be revealed here will be major spoilers if you haven’t played some of the games outside the main series, or if you haven’t played Kingdom Hearts 3, just be warned that there are some major spoilers here.

Who Is Luxu?

Luxu is an ancient being, having been an integral part of the events of the Kingdom Hearts χ and Union X series, which take place ages before the events of the main Kingdom Hearts games during the Age of Fairytales. You first meet Luxu as an apprentice to the mysterious Master of Masters, an even older being who is presumed to be the first Keyblade master and has worked to keep the Darkness at bay for some time.

Luxu, along with five other apprentices, Aced, Ava, Gula, Invi, and Ira, all were trained by the Master of Masters until they became Masters on their own, taking the joint title of Foreteller as they all worked to lead Unions, who all work to protect worlds from the Heartless. Each of the Foretellers received their own Keyblade from the Master, except for Luxu, who was given the Gazing Eye Keyblade, the Master’s personal keyblade, which at the time was simply referred to as “No Name”.

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The Master also bestowed upon all of the Foretellers but Luxu a copy of the Book of Prophecies, which he had created with the Gazing Eye Keylade. This book contains events of the future, which the Master can see through the Gazing Eye. For Luxu, he tasked him with carrying the Gazing Eye far into the future, so that the Master can record the events in his books.

Luxu was then ordered to observe but not act on events that occur, even those that happen to his fellow Foretellers. The Master also gives him a large object called the Black Box. The contents of the box have yet to be revealed by the games, but Luxu and the Master are aware of what’s inside and the significance of it.

Once the events of the Keyblade War reached their climax, Luxu and the Master disappeared, with Luxu tasked with hiding the Black Box so it may be opened when the time is right, and to find another Master to pass the Gazing Eye down to, and finally, as a way to observe the events of the future and ensure his other tasks are done, he has to transfer his heart from body to body countless times until the Gazing Eye could be inherited by another Master who would want to recreate the Keyblade War.

The world would be destroyed as a result of the Keyblade War, but Luxu did not follow orders blindly. Luxu would eventually be told of the Masters’ true plan, to bind 12 of the 13 willful darknesses to the Masters, the Foretellers, and leaders of the Dandelions, the group that you join when playing the Union X games. Finding the plan to be reprehensible and unable to fully commit himself to the actions his Master wanted, Luxu would be seen placing what he calls, “A seed of light to be planted in the future, the true Dandelion,” into a time device and sends it far into the future. This action was in direct rebellion of the Master’s orders and is likely what caused Luxu to be seen as a traitor to the Master.

How Did Luxu Become Braig?

Over time, Luxu would take on many forms, like Bragi, a student apprenticing under the tutelage of Master Odin in the Kingdom Hearts Dark Road game. There he “learned” to be a Keyblade Master along with a young Xehanort and Eraqus. He parted ways with the group when he faked his death after another student was possessed by darkness and attacked him. It was during this time, however, that Luxu would mark Xehanort as a potential inheritor of the Gazing Eye as he was fascinated with the darkness and the Keyblade War.

The next time Luxu pops up in the games is in the form of Braig, a brash, reckless, and seemingly foolhardy underling of Xehanort. Seemingly something of a mercenary in the expanded Kingdom Hearts Universe, Braig is brought on by Xehanort to attack Terra and encourage him to embrace the powers of darkness so that Xehanort may gain another minion.

This move backfires on Braig as Terra disfigures his face and seemingly destroys or at least severely injures his eye. During this time, Luxu, under the guise of the power-hungry Braig, works with Xehanort, who believes he can control and influence Braig with the temptation of power. Xehanort is so confident in his belief that Braig is something of a trusted ally, that he places a piece of his own heart into Braig’s turning his one good eye yellow, causing his ears to become pointed, and linking them and their power together.

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After the events of Birth by Sleep, where Xehanort steals Terra’s empty body for his own, Braig joins the evil Keyblade master in his experiments on hearts and the powers of darkness. Xehanort would betray Braig and the others who were working with him, including their current masters, Ansem, attacking them with the Gazing Eye and forcing them all into the split forms of Heartless and Nobodies. Now going by Xigbar, Luxu was aware of Xehanort’s true motives with the forming of Organization XIII though he kept them to himself.

After both Braig’s Heartless and Nobody were destroyed, Braig returned to a complete form, only to split himself again to gain the trust of Xehanort and rejoin the true Organization XIII. Their goal is to reforge a mighty weapon, the χ-blade, restore the original and true Kingdom Hearts, and remake the world in Xehanort’s image. During this time, Luxu has been searching for the Black Box on his own, which he seemingly has lost track of over the ages, even as other Organization members and even other villains like Maleficent and Pete have been searching for it as well.

After faking his death once again, Xigbar returns after Xehanort’s defeat, having reclaimed the Gazing Eye for his own. Standing amidst the Keyblade Graveyard having discovered the Black Box, Luxu welcomes the other Foretellers back to the world, having disappeared back in the events of Union X. When questioned about their missing comrade, Ava, and just what Luxu has been doing for the past untold ages, he enigmatically gestures to the Black Box and asks if the group likes long stories.

Why Did Luxu Help Xehanort?

Luxu’s sole mission in his nigh-eternal life is to enact the plan put into place by the Master of Masters. By observing the events of the future in real-time, Luxu was able to record everything for the Master, which in turn, he recorded in the Book of Prophesies.

While it likely took countless lifetimes and thousands of years, Luxu witnessed the second coming of the Keyblade War by Xehanort’s hand, acting only enough to bear witness to events as they unfolded. Even by the time Luxu had been told his mission, the Master had the Book of Prophesies in his possession, meaning Luxu had completed his mission. With everything set in place, the Master was able to enact his plan to eliminate Darkness forever, though what the plan will finally look like will have to wait until Kingdom Hearts 4 is released.

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