The GN-001 Gundam Exia (aka Exia, Gundam Seven Swords) is a mobile suit featured in season one of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 and is piloted by Setsuna F. Seiei.

Specializing in close combat and armed mainly with melee weapons, the Gundam Exia is one of four Gundams deployed in AD 2307 by the paramilitary organization, Celestial Being, to eliminate world conflicts through armed interventions. To fight against the world with their small numbers and win, these Gundams have overwhelming power and equipped with advanced technology a century ahead of its time. Notably, the semi-perpetual GN Drive mounted in the center of the Gundams provide almost limitless energy and generates special, multifunctional GN Particles. The GN Particles grant outstanding mobility, including independent flight capabilities, and are also utilized for beam weaponry, attitude control, and stealth purposes as the discharged particles can cause electromagnetic interference, leaving conventional communication and radar devices useless. The Gundams also share common aspects with conventional mobile suits, such as the use of E-Carbon for its armor material. However, the Gundams' E-Carbon has higher defensive power due to the use of advanced materials.

An example of Exia's overwhelming power is that its output was estimated to be about six times that of the SVMS-01 Union Flag, one of the newest conventional mobile suits at the time. The technical hurdles that had to be overcome to create the powerful Gundams and their GN Drives were high, making their production extremely difficult and caused the Gundams' development to occur in phases. The first generation machine, the GN-000 0 Gundam, established the basic system of a mobile suit powered by a GN Drive, and armed with a beam gun and beam saber. Subsequently, four second generation machines were developed with individual capabilities required for armed intervention, and their data served as a basis for the third generation machines, which included Exia and the other three Gundams deployed in the armed interventions. Specifically, Exia was developed from the GNY-001 Gundam Astraea, a general-purpose mobile suit with human-like movability that was used for testing various weapons, and the two machines have a number of similarities in terms of appearance.

The Astraea's movability aspect is particularly appropriate for the Exia, which requires the same range of articulations as the human body due to its close combat specialization. Thus, while the Exia is armed mainly with melee weapons, its basic performance remains that of a general-purpose mobile suit. In fact, Exia is the only Gundam deployed for the armed intervention that has a body structure capable of range of articulations like the human body's, and the omission of such a structure in the other three Gundams is simply because they do not require it as their specialization is in other areas. To achieve its wide range of articulations, Exia has the most complex basic frame out of the four Gundams, its armor is also more minutely segmentalized as well. This armor design however causes some internal structures and the joints to be unprotected during certain poses, lowering Exia's defensive capability. On the other hand, this design does provides better mobility, giving Exia the best projectile evasion capability among the four Gundams.

The Exia also has finer attitude control capabilities than the other Gundams, which is beneficial for close combat, and this is related to its GN Cables. The GN Cables, also known as “GN Power Lines”, are the light purple-colored cables running through various parts of the Exia's body and also one of its eye-catching visual features. While these cables are also found on other Gundams, the ones extending from the shoulders to the upper arms are unique to Exia. The cables facilitate the supply of tremendous amount of GN Particles, and thus energy, to each part of the Gundam instantaneously. They are also used for attitude control due to the GN Particles' mass reduction effect, and so, the Exia which has more cables on its exterior than the other Gundams is able to achieve finer control. In terms of defense however, such placements are dangerous, and later in GN-001REII Gundam Exia Repair II, the cables become mostly stowed in the armor.

The GN Particles' mass reduction effect also lightens the Gundam, and can be used to alter the mass ratio of various body parts. Due to this latter ability, it is possible to freely control the machine's inertia and turning capabilities when in the air, and for Active Mass Balance Auto-Control (AMBAC) when in space. This also eliminates the need for the legs to "walk” when moving. As for the control of GN Particles, it is largely carried out by the two clavicle antennas on the Gundam's torso. A minor role is played by the third generation Gundams' head antenna, which is experimentally equipped with particle control functions. The head antenna also has communications and radar search functions, as well as the black box for quantum communication linkage with Veda (the Celestial Being's quantum computing system). The rest of the Gundams' humanoid head unit also contain systems responsible for controlling the entire body, much like a human's head. On a side note, the Exia's head is designed to look like the helmet of the pilot suit worn by the Gundam Meisters in AD 2307-2308 to express the belief of “Meister = Gundam”.

While the GN Drive can produce GN Particles endlessly, even when the Gundams are inactive, there is a limit to the amount that could be instantaneously produced. Thus, continuous or heavy usage of beam weapons and other GN Particles consuming systems might cause the Gundams to run out of particles. To avoid this, the Gundams have GN Condensers in various body parts to store excess GN Particles. For maintenance purposes, the condensers can display the particles' compression rate and the amount stored. During mission, this display function is used for transmitting coded messages to allied units. On the matter of GN Drives, Celestial Being only created five units as that was deemed to be the minimum needed for armed interventions. The low number is not only due to difficulties in manufacturing the GN Drive, which requires Jupiter's high gravity environment, but also because having more GN Drives would increase the risk of them falling into the enemy's hands.

The Gundam Exia is nicknamed “Gundam Seven Swords” as its development code was “Seven Swords”, and as indicated by this name, it is equipped with a total of seven blades to meet the needs of the moment during combat. Of these seven, the GN Sword, GN Long Blade, GN Short Blade are physical blades, while the rest are beam-based and consisted of two GN Beam Sabers and two GN Beam Daggers. The GN Sword serves as the primary weapon and due to its low energy consumption, the Exia has an advantage in prolonged combat, which mainly occurs when fighting ace pilots or when subjected to traps such as the three major bloc's joint military exercise. The three physical blades also serve as countermeasures against GN Field, a protective barrier made of GN Particles. In other words, Exia is also intended to fight against Gundam/GN Drive-equipped machine that is piloted by a betrayer or captured by the enemy and used against Celestial Being. Early on, an alternate configuration of the GN-005 Gundam Virtue also had an anti-betrayer role, but its design was dropped and this increased the responsibilities placed on Exia and its Gundam Meister.

Other armaments include a GN Shield for defense that also provides protection to the internal structures and joints that might be exposed during movements. The GN Shield is usually in a compact size to maintain Exia's range of articulations, but can expand to increase the defensive area when needed. Similarly, the GN Sword, can fold its blade and has a Rifle Mode for ranged combat. The last of Exia's armament is another ranged weapon in the form of a pair of low-power GN Vulcans mounted in the forearms. During battles, the Exia gloriously sliced through its opponents in close combat, leaving a powerful impression on those who witnessed it and contributing greatly to the instillment of a "fear of Gundams" in the world. This was already anticipated by Celestial Being, and it is because of this that the organization's tactical forecaster, Sumeragi Lee Noriega, selected the Exia to intervene in the AEU-09 AEU Enact's presentation ceremony, which became the unveiling of the paramilitary organization.

The Gundam Exia has an "Over Boost Mode" that temporarily boosts its GN Drive's performance and thus increase the mobile suit's capabilities. During an emergency, the Exia can activate a special "Trans-Am System" that enhances its thrust and defensive capabilities, as well as increase its output to three times that of its normal specifications for a limited period of time. This system also causes the Gundam to glow red, but it is a double-edged sword as Exia's performance will drop dramatically once it ends. A number of additional optional equipment was also developed for Exia, such as the high mobility Avalanche Unit and the GNR-001E GN Arms Type-E support machine. When equipped with the Avalanche Unit, the Exia becomes the GN-001/hs-A01 Gundam Avalanche Exia and can speed past specialized high-speed mobile suits, which it normally cannot do despite having remarkable mobility. When docked with the GN Arms Type-E, the Exia becomes the GN-001+GNR-001E GN Armor Type-E, obtaining better mobility, offensive and defensive capabilities.