Why did Xehanort's Heartless call himself Ansem?

[Domdude095 7]

Hi everyone, welcome to my first topic! I have a question that has been bugging me for a while. Why did Xehanort's heartless (aka: Ansem, SoD) call himself Ansem? 

[VisitJoan 2,713]

Because he could.

 

And welcome to the site!

[teh lazy prince Xylek 1,559]

he stole his research and castle right? seems like identity theft is next in line

[The 13th Kenpachi 4,279]

Hi everyone, welcome to my first topic! I have a question that has been bugging me for a while. Why did Xehanort's heartless (aka: Ansem, SoD) call himself Ansem? 

Hey there! Great to have you here, call me Puv . Feel free to message me if you want a chat about anything

 

To answer your question, AX had a bit of spite towards his teacher/superior-Ansem The Wise. Actually... I was half way through answering this and realised I have no idea. This is kind of a minor plot-hole since there's no actual explanation. Perhaps he just decided stealing the identity was the next best thing after stealing the castle and his research.Like the person above me said.

[Domdude095 7]

Hey there! Great to have you here, call me Puv . Feel free to message me if you want a chat about anything

 

To answer your question, AX had a bit of spite towards his teacher/superior-Ansem The Wise. Actually... I was half way through answering this and realised I have no idea. This is kind of a minor plot-hole since there's no actual explanation. Perhaps he just decided stealing the identity was the next best thing after stealing the castle and his research.Like the person above me said.

 Yeah I agree it's a bit of a plot-hole. But when Terra-Xehanort went through with the experiment and turned into a nobody and heartless, his heartless just called himself Ansem but not Xehanort. Did he forgot his name?

[Mystics Apprentice 2,397]

Hey, and welcome!  I believe that the main reason Xehanort's heartless adopted the name of Ansem was because he was partially stealing Ansem the Wise's identity.  He stole his research and enacted the concept of a Nobody, and so he probably thought it interesting to steal his name.  Further, Terranort had apprenticed under Ansem, so it probably had something to do with that.  I don't think he had forgotten who he was, but rather he just adopted the name.  It's sort of confusing and never made clear in the series, or at least to my knowledge.

[Elfdemon_ 695]

Hi everyone, welcome to my first topic! I have a question that has been bugging me for a while. Why did Xehanort's heartless (aka: Ansem, SoD) call himself Ansem? 

 

It actually wasn't Xehanort's Heartless who first started going by the name Ansem, it was Apprentice Xehanort. Apprentice Xehanort stole Ansem's name, and then casted away his bodily form, becoming just a heart. In that form, he went by the name Ansem and he continued to go by that name even after becoming a Heartless as well. He stole his name because he was basically stealing Ansem the Wise's identity. He casted away Ansem the Wise to the Realm of Darkness, then stole his name, his castle, and all of his research.

 Yeah I agree it's a bit of a plot-hole. But when Terra-Xehanort went through with the experiment and turned into a nobody and heartless, his heartless just called himself Ansem but not Xehanort. Did he forgot his name?

 

It's not a plot-hole at all, and Xehanort's Heartless wasn't the one to first start calling himself Ansem, it was Apprentice Xehanort. Apprentice Xehanort casted away Ansem the Wise to the Realm of Darkness, stole his name, his identity, his castle, and all of his research. When he casted away his own bodily form and became a heart, he continued to call himself this and then even continued to call himself this when he became a Heartless.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Elfdemon_

[Domdude095 7]

It actually wasn't Xehanort's Heartless who first started going by the name Ansem, it was Apprentice Xehanort. Apprentice Xehanort stole Ansem's name, and then casted away his bodily form, becoming just a heart. In that form, he went by the name Ansem and he continued to go by that name even after becoming a Heartless as well. He stole his name because he was basically stealing Ansem the Wise's identity. He casted away Ansem the Wise to the Realm of Darkness, then stole his name, his castle, and all of his research.

 

It's not a plot-hole at all, and Xehanort's Heartless wasn't the one to first start calling himself Ansem, it was Apprentice Xehanort. Apprentice Xehanort casted away Ansem the Wise to the Realm of Darkness, stole his name, his identity, his castle, and all of his research. When he casted away his own bodily form and became a heart, he continued to call himself this and then even continued to call himself this when he became a Heartless.

OK I get now! Thanks for helping me with my question!

[Dave 5,715]

Well, back when all we had to run on was KH2 is terms of what Xehanort's motivation was, my take on it was that apprentice Xehanort had something of a hero worship on Ansem, judging by how dejected he is when Ansem tells him to stop doing his research, and the line of Xemnas where he tells his old master, "I thought you would have been proud of me, but all you ever do is hold me back." In a way, he wanted to BE Ansem, conducting experiments, demanding allegiance, and pushing thought forward. Also, it might have been a matter of convinience, since when you overthrow the king of Radiant Garden, people are going to notice unless you put up a pretty good front that Ansem is still there. Heck, even the opening of DDD kind of backs this up to a very limited extent, with Xehanort outright rejecting his name and taking the moniker of Ansem.

 

Now that everything I liked about the character of Ansem and Xemnas has been torched by BBS and DDD, though, it was probably just done for the sake of misdirection and needlessly convoluted machinations.

[Smithee 327]

Could've been a result of Terranort's memory and multi-heart issues (it was never actually said whether not his amnesia was fake, only that his Heartless and Nobody were driven in some sense to continue MX's plans indirectly).

 

He sounded pretty confused and uncertain after stabbing Braig, IMO.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Alan Smithee