I, Xion

I'd like to begin by laying down some laws:

1. I am not personally bashing anyone who loves, likes or approves of Xion. Remember, YOU are not Xion. She is a character in a video game. (Don't use this to write off my argument. What I'm ranting about here is the negative connotations that follow her and how she ruined the KH experience for me. Not because I believe that she is in any way a real person who is out to get me.)
2. This rant is based solely upon the way that I perceived the game, and how Xion appears in my eyes. Someone else may have a completely different view of her; just because I say I don't like her and give you a list of reasons why this is justified, doesn't mean that these reasons are correct. An opinion is an opinion, and I respect yours completely, but this means that you have to respect mine too. If you refuse to respect my right to an opinion, please Google 'Universal Declaration Of Human Rights' and then come back and bash me.
3. If you suspect that the hot, tight feeling in your throat that's rising as I'm typing may be an explosion of pro-Xion propaganda welling up inside and pretty soon you'll have to vent it through posting fire-bombs through my mailbox, then move your mouse northwest and tap the back button. There you go. Have a nice day.

However, if you've come here to find some plausible reasons that: back up your own/interest you as a fence-dweller/you'd like to debate healthily and open-mindedly/you'd like to scorn at in the comfort of your own home without any textual profanity, then keep reading.

*OPEN RANT*

Xion.

Xion is the fourteenth member of Organization XIII, first appearing in the game Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, in which she could be viewed as both a protagonist and antagonist. She is not actually a Nobody, and not even a true member of the Organization. Because of this she does not have a throne, nor does she have a title or a breed of Nobody to control. Instead, she's an imperfect Replica of Roxas created from Sora's leaked memories as a fail-safe in case both Sora and Roxas proved to be useless to Organization XIII's plans. While this enables her to use the Keyblade, Xion's existence also halts Sora's progression of regaining his memories to fully awaken while in his pod, something which Naminé, DiZ, and Riku recognize.

Contrary to many other anti-Xion rants, I will not leap right in with Xion and dub her a Mary-Sue without any point of reference or reasons to back me up. No, I will begin with a slightly more controversial approach.

What are the pros of Xion?

Personally, I very, very much disliked Xion. Many of you have probably already interpreted that as college speak for 'I hate the crap out of her'. Well, I'm not going to be self-righteous here; I do. I despise her. But I'm not closed-minded enough not to notice that she has more than one redeeming quality that, had I not noticed all her bad points, would have convinced me that maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

Xion stopped Days from being the Midnight Sun of the gaming world. It was a fun refreshment to experience a new character and she definitely helped to improve Roxas's character tenfold*. Through her, we learned much more about him, how he came to leave the Organization* and served as a good talking point that revealed a lot about the other member's personalities*.

She was cute and there were some nice fluffy scenes with her, Axel and Roxas. I liked the softer side she evoked in Axel, while still keeping him as the traitorous wretch we know he is under all that bravado about friends being forever**.

*Could have been achieved without Xion.
**Axel will be the focus of my next rant.


Before we go on, let me digress just for a minute or two with a list of my favourite characters in the game (the whole thing):

1. Xemnas
2. Larxene
3. Saix
4. Castiel

Wait…what?

Anyway, cut out number four, which was a joke (obviously), and you're left with the three that I favoured the most. Xemnas, Larxene, and Saix, in that order.

Now, let's continue the rant, and (gasp!) link it to my little digression. Cough.

Many anti-Xion hate rants I have casually come across (not by Googling, I swear) have been attacked by pro-Xioners who claim (and this is not unfounded, if there is no emphasis on banishing the theory) that people hate Xion because she is a female and she 'breaks up the yaoi'.

I know, you're thinking 'WHOA! SLOW DOWN, EINSTEIN!"

Fine. I'll start with the 'female-hate' thing. To abolish any founding on this, let's cast our eyes back to my list of favourites, shall we? Now, scooch your eyes down to number two and you'll find the name 'Larxene' down in black and white. Or khaki and Just Vomited. Or whatever.

Anyway, I believe that this revelation defeats the argument concerning girl-hatred. I really, really like Larxene. Good old female Larxene. I like her spunk, her original design, her kick-ass fighting standards that own Sora on more than one occasion. *eye twitch* Sora...

COUGH! Anyway, it's her independence, comic relief and her general capability that draws me to her. In short, I think she's an awesome character and a great addition to the crew.

Now for the 'breaks up yaoi' thing. That's dumb. Really, really dumb. I mean…how dumb.
None of the yaoi is canon. To say that just because Xion is a girl she will break up the yaoi is dumb. Having said that, even though I dump this theory, dump it completely, dump it off the roof of Macy's New York, I still have to admit that there were a few eensy-weensy tiny little details that possessed me to suspect a little bit of yaoi-diversion in the Squeenix office. Axel and Saix are shown as conspirators against Xemnas (something that did not exist in KH2), eliminating the pairing of Xemnas and Saix (THE SACRELIDGE! *crosses self*) and Xion is shown as being very close to Roxas which could possibly maybe perchance perceivably in some cases perhaps be seen as driving a wedge between the boys*.

*Note: further proof of my objection to this flimsy, flimsy theory - I do not support AkuRoku. I just don't really give a tiny rat's ass about either character, so…yeah. Boo-yah.

So, we've cleared up the whole anti-female thing and saved my sorry ass from due flaming so far. Let's move on.

Now, you probably don't want to believe me, but I really intended to stay away from the whole Mary Sue thing. Problem is, I can't. Because in my opinion, it's right there in all its pixelated glory*.

*Additionally, I believe that many other characters in the KH world are shameless Mary Sues and Gary Stus, but they are those that play a less significant part than Xion in Days, so don't grate on me as much.

I'll start with a brief overview of what a Mary Sue actually is.

Mary Sue, sometimes shortened simply to Sue, is a pejorative term used to describe a fictional character who plays a major role in the plot and is particularly characterized by overly idealized and clichéd mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors. Perhaps the single underlying feature of all characters described as "Mary Sues" is that they are too ostentatious for the audience's taste, or that the author seems to favour the character too highly. The author may seem to push how exceptional and wonderful the "Mary Sue" character is on his or her audience, sometimes leading the audience to dislike or even resent the character fairly quickly; such a character could be described as an "author's pet".

Retain that. RETAIN! Okay, so what I'm doing is using this breakdown, from www.storyentertainment.com/ow/… to provide an in-depth analysis as to why I believe that Xion is a Mary Sue.
Let's dissect.

Squeamish? Look away now.

"Angsty" Sue
This subconcept of the larger "Mary Sue" concept comes in two common variations. The first is a character who is constantly depressed and has a tragic past, frequently involving such things as murder, child abuse, rape, or abandonment of some sort. She or he often feels guilt for something that happened in the past, even though it is usually not his or her fault, which gives him or her the ability to feel bad about something without having done anything wrong. Generally, if she or he doesn't commit romanticised suicide, then only the love or close friendship of one or more canon characters can convince her that she is not responsible for a tragic or horrific childhood or event that was obviously not of her making. Such backgrounds constitute an ill-advised attempt to gain sympathy from the reader.
The other version of the "Angsty Sue" subconcept involves a character who has a similarly tragic past, but rather than angsting about it, she or he seeks revenge for what's been done to his or her family/home village/civilization, etc. She or he is thrust into the spotlight of the story while doing so. The writer is seen as using his or her past not merely as a device to gain sympathy, but also to claim moral superiority and justification for his or her actions. As such, this type of "Angsty Sue" rarely has any guilt at all - after all, she or he hasn't done anything "wrong."

Bored yet? Yeah, me too. But it's necessary.

Let's think about Xion's facial expressions. Or rather, the amount of time she spends under her hood, shrouded in mystery, cool little outsider who dungivacrap about all these crazy people around her (Lucinda Price, anyone? Actually, she's quite good on toast).

This is explained, though not totally clearly (I had to ask a guru of mine about the significance of the hood. She gave me the right answer, of course. Kudos, love.) and for all its reasons, it is STILL ANNOYING. Actually, almost all of the Mary Sue attributes of this character are explained, but the reason that doesn't detract from the fact that Xion is a Xarmy is the sheer ridiculousness of the reasons. In short, my belief is that Xion's character is weird. Weirdly built, weirdly explained. And this is KH, people. Everyone's weird in KH. But Xion is really weird. (and no, that is not a flaw.)

Talking of flaws…can you tell what it is yet? (ILY Rolf.)

No, Xion does not have any noteworthy flaws. She is kind, sweet, loved by all the characters that don't lurk in the shadows (SUBTLETY!) and is very pretty. She shows off amazing strength whenever it is convenient, and whenever it isn't, she faints. Seriously. She faints three times and falls into a coma three times. Maybe someone should get her some iron supplements? Anaemia isn't good for teenage girls. Oh, no, wait, sorry, scratch that. She isn't a girl!

…is she?

Anyway. Another thing about the angsty Sue is her angst (WOW PUN ZOMFGYBDBGVDSTPSLFLIKFLKKFL.) and the fact that she constantly needs reassurance to stop her from feeling guilty about a bad past that wasn't her fault (of course it wasn't her fault. She's flawless! And I can smell Lucinda Price again, creeping up on my with her natural flowery scent…back! Back, I say, BACK!).

And so we have Xion. But remember, people! The passage states that "Angsty Sue…has a tragic past, frequently involving such things as murder, child abuse, rape, or abandonment of some sort."

Notice: FREQUENTLY. Not always. 'Tragic' can refer to anything that is seen as terrible and heart-wrenching by the character (not gonna say audience, because for me, Xion's sob story was MEH.) .

To quote the woman herself:

"So, do you hate me for taking your friend away from you?"

Blatant angst. Xion knows that Riku will not hate on her because since the moment they met Riku has acted totally out of character all in the name of convenience. She wants him to hate her so she will have something to angst about to her friends. Saddo.

"Is it that I'm not supposed to exist?"

More angst. Nomura wants us to feel sorry for her, obviously. Isn't being an outcast creature of the night just tragic?

Oh, wait. Look around you, Xion. THEY'RE ALL DOOMED TOO.

She needs to get her head out of her own butt and stop being so self absorbed.

"WAHHHH I was made by a machine, WAHHHH the Org members with half a brain can see that I'm a lying, deceitful little asshat, WAHHHHH I'm so alone, WAHHHHH I don't know who I am, WAHHHHH I want to bite the hand that feeds me and kill those who put a roof over my head and feed me and clothe me……"

Purr-lease.

Oh yeah…

…and I love the smell of romanticised suicide in the morning!

Last scene? Dies in Roxas arms with a gentle, sweet little smile on her face, after killing herself so selflessly to save the lives of all those around her, while telling Roxas to avenge her and not to let Xemnas win.

NO! OH GOD, NO! THERE IT IS AGAIN! THE HORRIBLE SAPPINESS! MY EYES! MY EYES!

I'm all for heroic exits. But this, paired with all the other evidence we have that leads Xion toward the Angsty Sue conclusion, wrecks it completely.

"…only the love or close friendship of one or more canon characters can convince her that she is not responsible for a tragic or horrific childhood or event that was obviously not of her making."

Roxas. Axel. Riku. I can hardly throw out all the names of possible redeemers quickly enough. Practically everyone we're expected to love is out to assure her that she's not a bad girl, she's just a special snowflake who's tragically misunderstood. Then there's the stealing of the spotlight and…

Did I just say that in my outside voice?

Yeah. I did. And it's true. In this game, I wanted to understand more about the TRUE Org members, Roxas's time with them, and the dynamics of life as one of the Bad Guys.

But no! Things were only complicated more and the plot holes dropped like flies.*

UGH.

*This isn't entirely Xion's fault. Naminé is just one big plot hole in herself.


Anti-Sue
Some authors make an extreme effort to avoid making their character into a "Mary Sue". The attempts or results of such attempts are sometimes referred to as "Anti-Sues". Given that the key difference between a well-developed, sympathetic character and a "Mary Sue" is often considered to be a lack of realistic faults, this generally involves making such characters extremely flawed. Some such attempts are seen as creating interesting, three-dimensional characters - though others are seen as being similarly over-the-top as the more stereotypical "Mary Sue".
"Anti-Sue" traits include physical unattractiveness, mental illness (including sociopathy and psychopathy), noticeably lacking in power or competency relative to other characters, being generally disliked by others or never interacting with them, cowardice, and other unflattering characteristics. While characters who can arguably be described as "Anti-Sues" have proved popular in some fiction, especially in modern times, at other times they may be perceived to be as bad as or even worse than "Mary Sues" for their cliché nature or lack of sympathetic traits. "Anti-Sue" is viewed as merely another cliché stock character, or even simply an anti-hero variation of the "Sue" - especially if he or she still manages to take the spotlight away from the canon heroes.

Okaaaaaay.

At first glance, you get the feeling that at this rate, every character has the potential to be a Mary Sue and you can't escape it. But on closer analysis, a Mary Sue is easily avoidable. Mary Sue Syndrome is all relative.
For instance, a character wouldn't be a Mary Sue if she was a superhuman superhero with awesome powers…that were equally as awesome as those around her, and if we know about these powers from the get-go. She can be a superhero, but she has to be a superhero with weaknesses, flaws, and things that make her believable. She can have all the wacky hair colours she wants, as long as it is the norm in her world for people to have crazy hair colours. Alternatively, she may have dyed her hair. Sueness is relative; Mary Sue is a Mary Sue only if she lives in a world where she is a Mary Sue.
Plus, it's mostly about finding a balance. Like fairies and witches (I don't know. I'm sleepy and I just ate). For example, you could have a character who had a tough past, but throughout the story touches upon it only two or three times in depth. This character could maybe have bright green eyes, but regular brown hair. Maybe she could have a couple of friends who are always there for her, but are light-hearted and have their own stories so as not to be so involved in her past, always bringing it up all the time. Maybe she could have one love interest and another one who is fond of her, but then that's it. It stays realistic, but has plenty of potential.


Canon Sue (in original source)
A "canon Sue" may also refer to a character whose canon portrayal itself is seen as a "Mary Sue", rather than a character who has been altered in fan fiction. Typically, this refers to a character accused of being overly idealized or having other traits traditionally associated with fan fiction "Mary Sues", such as being "special" by having a gratuitously tragic past, unrealistic skills, or a seeming inability for the character to do wrong, such as Wesley Crusher.


Maybe this paragraph should be part of the one that describes Xion?

No, in all seriousness, sorry, but this is just HER. Overly idealised? Where do I start? Altered in fan fiction? Look, I don't want to be mean, but her character design reads like a bad fanfic. Actually, to be honest with you, it reads like something I used to write into my fan fiction so that I could put my own stamp on the KH universe. I mean, writing that fiction was quite fun, but dude, seriously, that shit sucked. It did.

Special? Okay, let's see about that:

1.Sudden surges of power whenever it is convenient (or likely to impress Roxas. NOT an achievement, TBH. A flying bug would impress Roxas.)
2. Ability to assume Sora's form (reasoned, yeah, but to be frank, the reason was creepy. The whole reasoning behind Xion is weird.)
3. Fainting spells (yes, this is special. Certainly when it means that Axel must carry her back to the castle and protect her with his life even though they have known each other for about two seconds flat)
4. Keyblade (explained, but I get the feeling that the whole reason for Xion's character was just to fashion another member of the Keyblade club. It's an excuse to rake in cash without bothering to come up with anything new. It seems nowadays, anyone can have a Keyblade if they want one. I mean, Kairi wielding it was one thing, but this is just ridiculous.)

Been through the tragic past, blah-DEE-blah…


Villain-Sue
"Villain-Sue" usually replaces, befriends or is romantically involved with a major canon villain. Other traits include defeating canon characters with ease, secretly having redeeming qualities, having a tragic past that somehow excuses and justifies all her heinous deeds and letting the canon characters live when she could kill them — not out of bad qualities such as wanting to see them suffer, a desire to have all of them as prisoners at once, or wanting to gloat, but because she really isn't so evil as others might think. In fact, she may even secretly be a hero, or have hidden heroic tendencies. This can be seen as a variant of the "Angsty Sue" seen above.

Maybe Xi-Xi could be considered a Villain Sue - a few of the qualities are there, it all just depends on how you see Organization XIII (IMO, Roxas is a Gary-Stu. You can pretty much just substitute all of Xion's name mentions for his in this passage and it still applies).

Her tragic past supposedly excuses her actions (frightening poor little Roxy half to death) and her bad qualities are only ever directed at those who are supposed to deserve it.

And also….alright, I think I've almost run out of steam. Yes, she's a recoloured Kairi and that sucks ass, but hey….it's explained, so we're not supposed to care about it! Personally, everything about Xion screams shoddy, half-baked thrown together character just in there to line the pockets of Squeenix (OPINION!). She bobbed up out of nowhere (uh-huh, the memory thing, but surely she could have left behind some sort of memento that lead up to her? Maybe she wasn't an afterthought, but it sure felt like it) and didn't do anything that couldn't have been done by anybody else. She was pointless, basically. Useless. Without purpose. Whatever.

*END RANT HERE*