Characters / Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Main Protagonists

Main Page | Main Protagonists (Pyra & Mythra) | Optional Blades | Organization of Torna | Other Characters | "Torna ~ The Golden Country" Cast

The main party members of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and their main Blades.

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Drivers

Rex

Click ^here
to see Rex as the Master Driver

"I'm in. Let's go to Elysium. I'll take you there myself!"

Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (Japanese), Al Weaver (English)

Rex is the main protagonist of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Starting the story working as a salvage diver with a very literal and overly optimistic interpretation of the setting's religion and fairy tales of the Architect and the land of plenty at the top of the World Tree, his whole life changes when he comes across a mysterious Blade, Pyra, and decides to take her to Elysium.

For his status during the events of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, see here.

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• A Child Shall Lead Them: After Vandham's death, he becomes the head of the Garfont Mercenaries.
• Adventurer Archaeologist: As a salvager, Rex explores ruins under the Cloud Sea to bring in the bread. It's a genuine passion — his favorite items include Coral Reversi, a popular boardgame of long ago, and Antiques.
• Affectionate Nickname: He's called Rex-Rex by Nopon who respect him, such as Tora. And the powerful Chairman Bana, interestingly enough.
• All-Loving Hero: By nature, he always assumes the best of people and tries to be everyone's friend, unless they really try to hurt him or are unrepentant. This even extends to Malos and Jin after finding out their motives, with Rex wondering if he could have been friends with them without Amalthus' intervention.
• Almighty Janitor: He's this among Argentum regulars if you complete a sidequest. He's just a regular salvager, but he can become a top-ranked one if you salvage enough. This is opposed to Bana who, despite serving as head of the Argentum Trade Guild, is merely an average salvager. This status was self-inflicted because he wouldn't salvage anything that could be used to kill people.
• Amazon Chaser: While still stronger than a human, Pyra and Mythra may not normally be the most impressive of Blades with their physical strength (they can still lock Blades with Malos without being overpowered), but they certainly know how to a wield their weapons and make use of their unique abilities much better then Rex himself ever could. He admires their power greatly.
• Amusing Injuries: Rex is not a frequent victim of this, but he's probably the most slapstick prone character in the game after Zeke. Getting smacked into the camera and having his helmet thrown at him by Mythra being the most notable examples.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Rex is very overconfident in his own abilities and likes to show off. While he doesn't look down on anyone for this, it causes him to enter a lot of situations where he is clearly in over his head.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Asks this to Jin in Chapter 9 as the latter demands to know who will prevent a repeat of the tragedies of Morthya and Torna as well as stand up for the peace and equality Rex seeks to achieve after he someday passes away, assuming he even manages to make it a reality. "Isn't that the reason you Blades exist!?"
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Garfont Mercenaries respect strength, and a sidequest needed to increase the Merc Group's influence involves earning their respect by laying the smackdown on some of them.
• Attractive Zombie: He was briefly a corpse before he was given new life by Pyra, half of her core taking over the functions of his destroyed heart. He doesn't look too bad, all things considered.
• Audience Surrogate: He's completely new to the Driver-Blade system, just like first time players. As such, any new information he learns will also be indirectly relayed to the player as well.
• Babies Ever After: Revealed in XC3 to have married and had kids with Pyra, Mythra and Nia.
• Back from the Dead: Rex dies and comes back from the dead shortly afterwards, thanks to Pyra sharing part of her Core Crystal with him as a substitute for his damaged heart.
• Badass Normal: Even before becoming a Driver, Rex knows how to wield a sword and use Arts to protect himself while salvaging. Even Malos is impressed with his light feet and combat instincts when Torna scouts him for a salvaging mission.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: In the final chapter, he is put in one by Klaus, where he has to literally fight alternate versions of his allies that represent alternate possibilites for them, who are projecting his own latent self doubts.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Rex finally gets to Elysium in Chapter 10 only to find out that it's a barren wasteland that's not even a shell of what Pyra showed him while he was dead.
• BFS: The Aegis is a pretty big sword and some of the regular Blades have larger ones.
• Blue Is Heroic: His salvage gear is primarily blue.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: Pyra and Mythra are shown multiple times to be as good at using their own weapons or even better then Rex. But as a Driver, keeping your Blade safe from harm is incredibly important in battle.
• Boyish Shorts: Both his default salvage gear and Master Driver outfit provide the appearance as if Rex is wearing tiny shorts that expose his thighs. This also puts him in contrast with Shulk, with Rex being the younger and more childish protagonist of the two. Notably, as he grows up, he ditches this style altogether.
• Camera Abuse: One of the battle transitions involves him getting smacked by Mythra so hard, it ends with him literally Breaking the Fourth Wall.
• Character Development: While he was already a All-Loving Hero, Rex still starts out the game with a very black and white view of the world. Simplified, one could say he believed people who are doing bad things are simply bad, and those who aren't are good. Likewise he saw himself as being wholely separate from any war efforts simply because he refused to salvage weaponry. So a big theme of his development in the early chapters is learning about how much gray there can be behind a person's actions, that even the worst people may have sympathetic motivations and genuine beliefs, and that he was kidding himself to believe he wasn't contributing to war efforts by salvaging, since armies need regular things as well. He remains very idealistic to the end, but said idealism becomes more grounded in reality.
  • Rex in the beginning has difficulty dealing with the fact that he cannot always help people the way he wants to, and that sometimes it's necessary to trust the judgment of other people, regardless of how painful it feels or how against it he is. This causes him problems when Vandham sacrifices himself to buy time for the rest of the party to escape, something that nearly fails when Rex ends up charging towards Malos and Akhos in sheer grief-stricken fury, and would have gone worse if Mythra hadn't reawakened to save him. By the end of the game, part of his development is trusting Pneuma and letting her go to stop the fall of the World Tree, an act of faith that is rewarded by Pyra and Mythra returning to him from their dormant core crystal in the post credits.
  • When asked by Zeke who he prefer; Pyra or Mythra, Rex stated that the two are more or less the same person. But as the story goes on, Rex begins to see the two as their own person to the point that in his subconscious, he pictures them having their own bodies and living together.
• Chick Magnet: He has heavy amounts of Ship Tease with Pyra and Mythra (and is implied to end up with them both), and Nia falls for him eventually. Funny enough, it's revealed that in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Rex ends up having children with all three of them.
• Child Prodigy:
  • It's common knowledge among the Goldmouth's crew that Rex is the best salvager in Argentum, but stays at the bottom of the totem pole because he won't salvage any weaponry. It's possible through salvaging to make him the best for real, since he drops this outlook fairly early on.
  • As a Driver and fighter this is played with a bit. It's noted repeatedly that he learns very quickly, and that he has remarkable aptitude for resonating with Core Crystals and using Blades in combat despite his young age, but this doesn't keep him from making big mistakes or being outmatched by more experienced Drivers and fighters. Vandham, Zeke, Mòrag and Nia all take an interest in using their greater experience to cultivate Rex's skills to their fullest and protect him from getting too confident.
• The Chosen One:
  • Subverted, he was chosen to be the Driver of the legendary Aegis after coming back from the dead, but this was by chance due to being part of a mission to retrieve the Aegis, Pyra however believes that it was fate that Rex found her. Later, he becomes the wielder of the third Aegis Sword and thus becomes the true Driver of Pyra/Mythra.
  • Played straight in the Torna expansion, which reveals that Mythra had a vision of Rex before she sealed herself away.
• Combat Medic: The Aegis sword is technically an attacker-type, but comes with an art that yanks healing potions out of enemies with his anchor, meaning that he's going to be both a source of damage and HP no matter the build. By the end of the game, he has both the best offensive Blade and the best healer Blade locked to him, and gets extra perks for equipping both at once, so the game naturally shifts him towards this.
• Coming of Age Story: Interviews with the director have confirmed the focus of Xenoblade 2's story to be this for Rex.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Shulk. Both were once normal people before gaining powerful abilities by coming in contact with a legendary power from ancient times, and both can use foresight, an ability to see into the future, but that’s where the similarities end. Shulk is a shy and socially-awkward Science Hero who prefers to stay indoors doing research, grew up with a strong support network of adoptive family and friends, and wears red-themed attire, while Rex is an outgoing Working-Class Hero who mostly lived on his own prior to the events of 2 but is very good at reading people and wears blue-themed attire.
• Dead to Begin With: He is killed by Jin early on in the game. Fortunately, Pyra allows him to keep on living by lending him half her life force.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Happens occasionally; notably, one post-battle quote is him asking if anyone else finds Poppi's adult form distracting. Another post-battle quote has him trying to make an excuse for staring at Mythra. A third post-battle quote has Kora asking Rex if her attire is too tight on her, which Rex chooses not to answer after stumbling for a brief moment. In the Land of Challenge, Rex will get distracted and start admitting he is interested in seeing the girls in swimsuits when the Nopon Archsage introduces the idea, before catching himself.
• Dual Wielding: After defeating Jin in Chapter 9, if both Pyra and Nia are at max affinity, Rex can wield both of their swords for a Level 4 Blade Special. Depending on the actively deployed blade it gives a different special: Nexus Force for Nia and Union Sword for Pyra.
• Foregone Conclusion: Mythra's vision at the end of the prequel has a blink and you'll miss it moment where Rex doesn't have his core crystal anymore in a scene where he's reaching out to her, spoiling that the both of them (and Argentum) are still alive and well after the events of the main game.
• Fatal Flaw: Rex in the beginning has difficulty dealing with the fact that he sometimes cannot help people the way he wants to, and that sometimes it's necessary to trust other people's judgment and let them go, regardless of how much he doesn't want to. This causes him problems when Vandham sacrifices himself to buy time for the rest of the party to escape, something that nearly fails when Rex ends up charging towards Malos and Akhos in sheer grief-stricken fury, and would have gone worse if Mythra hadn't reawoken in response. By the end of the game, part of his development is trusting Pneuma and letting her go to stop the fall of the World Tree, an act of faith that is rewarded by Pyra and Mythra returning to him from their dormant core crystal in the post credits.
• First Love: He's Pyra and Mythra's, which is worth noting due to their feelings for him are the first real attachment they've had to anything since being brought into Alrest, and he's the part of the world that makes them realize they DO have something to lose if they committed suicide during the story's climax.
• Frothy Mugs of Water: Drinks are one of his favortite pouch items, and given how boozy salvager culture is, it's heavily implied he's invoking this due to not being old enough to drink the hard stuff.
• Genius Bruiser: Though most of his fights are won through the tactics or combined strength of his allies, Rex has shown to be able to assess a situation well enough to come up with his own strategy for battle. One such example of enginuity being at the end of Chapter 2 when Rex uses Mòrag's own defensive manuever to topple a water tower with the help of Poppi's monstrous strength, opening up a window for counterattacking by temporarily neutralizing Brighid. As he remembered from his fight with her earlier that fire Blades are weak to water.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: He winds up on the receiving end by Nia, then Brighid, and finally Poppi in Chapter 7 after a brutal loss against Jin's true power and Pyra surrendering herself to spare them. He was willing to give up due to failing Pyra, in a far cry from his usual optimism.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: He has one built in his gauntlet — a handy tool for someone who explores ruins for a living. Creative use saves Rex's bacon several times throughout the story. In combat it is used in Anchor Shot, one of his most useful Arts due to its ability to spawn healing pickups and, after a little teaching from Vandham, inflict the incredibly useful Topple.
• Has a Type: He blushingly admits to having one towards the end of the game. It's ponytails.
• He Is All Grown Up: The photo of him and the crew shown in Xenoblade 3 showcases that he grew up to become quite the Hunk. He's still slim and not as tall as Zeke (being about as tall as Mòrag), but basically all his attractive aspects from when he was younger got enhanced nicely.
  • Gets an even bigger glow-up in the story DLC for 3, now considerably older and sporting an impressive case of Manly Facial Hair.
• The Hero: Rex as the main player character, a heroic anime swordsman from humble beginnings, and eventually charismatic leader of the group. His drive to get to Elysium, and relationship with Pyra and Mythra are the main focuses of the game.
• Hero of Another Story: He's this to Shulk from the first Xenoblade, since the first game's plot is happening in the universe Klaus created.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: His weapon before becoming Pyra's driver is a collapsible broadsword. Further enforced by Pyra/Mythra and Nia's Blade weapons being swords.
• Heroic BSoD: Has a temporary one beginning of Chapter 7 after losing to Jin and failing to protect Pyra.
• Heroic Lineage: Played with. It's unknown whether or not he is a biological descendant of Addam (while Addam's wife was pregnant at the end of the Torna DLC, we have no idea where the child ended up), but as a Leftherian he is at least a spiritual descendant. Several people who knew Addam point out their similarities; they even have the same favorite food.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Rex, despite being a tad naive, especially with women, has a good grasp on people. When he first met Pyra, he could tell there was sadness in her eyes, as if she didn't want to live anymore. He's also able to sense that Morag and Zeke are good people, even though they initially tried to pick a fight with him. Meeting with Amalthus makes him think of Malos, hinting that Amalthus might be responsible for Malos' hatred for humanity.
  • It's heavily hinted that despite his platonic reaction at the time, he actually did realize what Nia was trying to confess in hindsight. Post-battle chatter with Blade Nia has him try to bring it up only for her to cheerfully deflect before he can say anything, his Secret Test of Character involves Nia being resentful of Rex only having eyes for Pyra (despite being his hallucination, implying he does realize the truth), and during the ending, Nia's able to communicate her support for Rex with only a silent look, and he clearly gets the message. Come XB3, the "hinted" part goes flying out the window.
  • During the "Beneath the Aurora" mission, Rex, when somewhat subtly asked by Mythra when he is going to propose to her, gets the idea and tells her it's gonna take a good while before he does that. This shows that Rex has some plans to live the rest of his life with Mythra, but later rather than right now.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Justified by his youth and naivety, but a major part of Rex's character development is developing out of this trope. At the start of the game, he gets duped by Bana's flattery and never sees Torna's betrayal coming until too late, then he turns around and ascribes nefarious motives to the actually-noble Mòrag and Brighid. He starts getting better after he meets Vandham and becomes much more perceptive, to the point where right around the game's mid-point, he senses a connection between Malos and Amalthus but can't make sense of what it means, and continues improving from there.
• Hot-Blooded: Naturally as Rex is an energetic, naïve and optimistic kid who dreams big. He is someone who puts all of his passion into whatever he's doing. When it comes to salvaging he is well known for his skill at the job by those in Argentum, and as a Driver he takes great strides to improve his skill in Chapter 3 and 4. Mòrag herself notes his increased strength during their second battle in Mor Ardain.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Despite his combat training from Gramps, he doesn't really know much about being a Driver. It's not until two-thirds through the game that he even knows that Blades can create a new weapon for their Driver if the current one breaks. Furthermore, after he becomes the Master Driver, he doesn't really know how to use his new abilities. He can borrow Blades from other Drivers, but Amalthus demonstrates that the Master Driver can completely control both Titans and Blades (though that was only possible due to Amalthus also having amplifier towers and Haze's core crystal).
• I Got Bigger: When a photo of him as a young adult is shown during the ending of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, he's shown to have gained a fair bit of height (somewhere between Mòrag and Zeke) and while still of a athletic build has also matured into the most "macho" looking of the Xenoblade protagonists thus far, with noticeably muscular arms and broad shoulders. Turns out he wasn't quite done growing either, because in Future Redeemed, he is shown to have become even more muscular, being built similarly to the much larger Zeke and even Addam at this point.
• Innocently Insensitive: He is rather tactless when addressing a woman's weight, as Pyra and Fiora from the Challenge Mode DLC would attest to. Azurda calls him out on it for the former while the latter talks about it in post-battle banter.
• Instant Expert:
  • Almost any weapon Rex bonds with, he's able to wield it well. Justified, as Gramps had been tutoring him in basic sword techniques before the start of the game, and these translate to the Aegis Blade just fine. This notably applies to Roc's dual scythes, a weapon that only one person had ever successfully used before him.
  • Played straight in regards to the the trick of toppling enemies with the grappling hook that Vandham teaches him. Rex pulls it off instantly while Vandham mentions taking five years to learn how to do it.
• Interspecies Romance: Rex, a human, finds himself falling in love and marries to two Blades (Pyra and Mythra) and a Flesh Eater (Nia.)
• In the Back: Rex takes a stab in the back from Jin when he finds Pyra. Pyra saves him, on the condition that he take her to Elysium.
• The Last DJ: Despite Rex's obvious skill as a salvager, he's low-ranked and often working for peanuts simply because he refuses to do the one thing that will make him some real money: salvage weapons. He's admonished about this several times, but it's not until Vandham demonstrates the pointlessness of simply opting out of the brewing war that he actually takes it to heart.
• Longing Look: Occasionally does this to Pyra in cutscenes when she isn't looking during the first half of the game. Especially during their first trip to Indol. Every single time he does this he notices that something is clearly bothering her but doesn't say anything to make her feel better.
• Love Confession: Rex proclaims his love for Pyra and Mythra during his speech of acceptance to them, finally letting the two of them know how much they mean to him in the hopes that they would accept themselves.
• Marry Them All: In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, it's revealed that he married Pyra, Mythra, and Nia.
• Mayfly–December Romance: With all three of his love interests despite all of them initially looking like they're of the same age. Whereas Rex is by all accounts a regular human with the expected normal lifespan to boot, each of his lovers are Blades who are not only older than him (Pyra and Mythra are centuries older due to being the Aegis, whereas Nia explicitly notes that Rex is a "kid" compared to her during their first interactions with each other), but are more than likely to outlive him. Best highlighted with Nia's photo of the party during the ending of 3; while she, Pyra and Mythra look about as youthful as they were back in 2, Rex has visibly gotten older.
• Meaningful Name:
  • His name means king in Latin; fitting, as he becomes the leader of the Garfront Mercenaries.
  • He also becomes the Master Driver near the end of the game, effectively making him the king of all Blades.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Pyra can switch between two forms (three near the endgame), essentially giving Rex access to up to four (five later on) Blades. On top of that, after he unlocks the Master Driver program, he can engage any Blade in the party, even those bonded to other Drivers (except for Poppi).
• Mysterious Past: Rex's background, other than his hometown and dead parents, goes mostly unexplored. Rex is confirmed by the game to be ethnic Leftherian, and mentions are made of how much he resembles Addam. But he's an orphan and ward of his home village, and his heredity died with his parents, who passed before they could reveal anything. Ultimately he considers Fonsett his home, and that's good enough for everyone.
• Nice Guy: Despite his flaws and his naivety, Rex is a kind, helpful, and well meaning young man most of the time.
• Oh, Crap!: Has a pretty big one near the ending when he sees the "control room" Pyra/Mythra sent them to was actually a room full of escape pods and immediately realizes that she does not intend to leave with them.
• Older Than They Look: Word of God from the director states Rex is 15. He is frequently derided as a child over the course of the game (Nia mocking that he could pass for a 12 year old), but he's been living on his own (well, on Azurda) and supporting himself for at least five years. His actual age is never stated in the game, but his referring to his past on Fonsett as "when he was a kid" and Azurda at one point lampshading that Rex was never the biggest among his peers, suggests he is at least in his mid teens and just short for his age. Subverted with his voice however, which is rather appropriately deep for someone his age.
• Only in It for the Money: Subverted. Rex initially claims that he's only in the salvaging trade "for the cash", taking the job at the start of the game just because he's offered a big paycheck. However, he doesn't keep most of the money he makes, sending it to support Fonsett Village instead, and he admits to Nia that his real reason for salvaging is because he dreams of a better world in Elysium. And if he had really been in it for the money to begin with, he would have been rolling in cash from hauling up military hardware, something he refused to do before Vandham points out his ridiculously flawed worldview.
• Oop North: He has Al Weaver's Mancunian accent in the English dub, reflecting the rustic and rural vibes of Fonsett Village.
• Parental Abandonment: His parents passed away when he was two years old, and auntie Corrine and later Azurda's been taking up the slack as Rex's father figure.
• Polyamory: As shown at the end of 3; he, Pyra, Mythra, and Nia resolve the love triangle between them by becoming a polycule.
• Power Crystal: Has part of Pyra's Core Crystal set in his chest after becoming her Driver.
• Protagonist Power-Up Privileges: With having Pyra/Mythra as a Blade, he can access four different elements versus three for the other party members. And when he awakens the full power of the Aegis, he can link up to anyone's Blade (save for Poppi) and use any element he wants.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: At the start of chapter 7, after losing Pyra to Jin, Rex is ready to just head back to Argentum and go back to his life as a salvager.
• Ship Tease:
  • Rex is heavily teased with Pyra and Mythra, who share a body. It becomes more than a tease when Zeke outright says that Mythra/Pyra's fused form Pneuma is the girl Rex loves and Rex doesn't object, not to mention the ending title screen of him holding hands with both of them. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 reveals that they, not only Nia, ended up together.
  • Rex also had some with Fan la Norne during the course of chapter 5 as he is repeatedly flustered by her. His reaction over her death towards the end of it in particular adds quite a bit of fuel to the fire. Beforehand, Nia also teases him on it by playfully threatening to tell Pyra and Mythra on him.
  • He has some with Nia, though most of it is one-sided. After New Game Plus, the title screen changes so that eventually Nia will arrive to hold hands with Rex, and 3 heavily implies that all three became Rex's wives.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: When Pyra/Mythra obtains her ultimate Pneuma form, she morphs his salvager suit into something more like futuristic space armor. This shift remains until the end of the game.
• Static Character: While he does undergo some changes in worldview as the game progresses and he's exposed to more of the harsh truths of the world, Rex is still the same idealistic All-Loving Hero at the end of the game that he begins it as. This is not at all a bad thing for the people around him, as it's his adamant refusal to change in the face of enemies' attempts to break him and convert him to their own worldviews, that makes him a reliable Supporting Protagonist that more dynamic but also more emotionally-turbulent characters can rely on.
• Sticks to the Back: His current weapon sticks to his back outside of combat.
• Strong and Skilled: After gaining Mythra he learns a lot of skill, while gaining a lot of power in the process, allowing him to fight Mòrag and Brighid one on one while not actually trying to hurt her, while Mòrag was taking it completely seriously (albeit Mythra states Brighid was holding back too). Eventually he is able to destroy Aion and deliver a Curb-Stomp Battle to Jin. Even without Pneuma in Chapter 7, he is almost even with Jin due to what Addam teaches him.
• Superior Successor: He's able to awaken and control the full potential of Pyra/Mythra, where Mythra's previous Driver Addam elected to seal it away in the form of a sword.
• Supporting Protagonist: In a similar fashion to Tidus from Final Fantasy X. At the end of the day, while Rex's nigh unwavering optimism is what keeps everyone going, the story itself is about Pyra/Mythra and the members of Torna. He's also this in a literal sense, as all the emotional support he gives to everyone is exactly what makes him so irreplaceable since all of the above and more begin the story wanting to commit suicide. It also factors into one aspect of his Character Development, he figures out that Pyra is depressed long before she confesses to him she's suicidal, but he doesn't really know how to deal with it until very late in the game. It's one small part of his feelings of inadequacy towards being her driver. After getting told off (and smacked around by Nia and Brighid) and finding the third sword, he realizes that just always being there to support Pyra and Mythra was always the best thing he could do. Funnily enough, this is taken to its logical extreme with Pyra and Mythra's inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where Rex primarily appears as an Assist Character who shows up in their intros, taunts and Final Smashes while they actually serve as the actual playable fighters.
• Synchronization: Thanks to Pyra sharing half of her lifeforce with Rex, they have a deeper connection than most Blades and Drivers; as a negative consequence, any pain or damage one sustains is felt by the other, making Pyra mortal.
• Technological Pacifist: Even though he stood to make a tidy profit by salvaging weaponisable technology from the Cloud Sea (especially considering the then-growing military tensions between the Urayan Kingdom and the Ardainian Empire), Rex had elected to pass it over out of a principled stance against supporting armed conflicts. However, Vandham, being well-versed in the field by nature of heading a mercenary company, reveals a flaw in Rex's logic by explaining that armies require more than just weapons to function, and so Rex couldn't know whether or not he was indirectly contributing to any such conflicts with the technology he did salvage.
  Vandham: Don't matter if you're a soldier or not. As long as you're alive... you're in the war, some way or another.
• Too Many Belts: Less than some examples, but the double belt is still one more than necessary.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Pyra and Mythra tower a bit over him, though at his age he probably isn't done growing yet. Furthermore, Pyra and Mythra have the body of a voluptuous Statuesque Stunner alongside many other female blades - however, they're around 5'2" according to an official height chart and still look tiny next to Blades such as Brighid, Poppi QTπ and Elma, which only emphasizes how Rex is even smaller. Turns out, Rex just had a late growth spurt after all; his cameo as an adult at the end of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has him as tall or taller than everyone but Zeke.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Pan-Fried Tartari, which Pyra can cook for him and is only available through her. According to Mythra, it's also Addam's favorite food, contrary to popular Tantalese lore that he preferred spicy Embercakes.
• Upbringing Makes the Hero: He was raised by the kindhearted Corrine in a small village void of much conflict. Because of this he has a more optimistic, if naive, worldview compared to the other main characters and a strong willingness to help others.
• The Unchosen One: In stark contrast to his predecessor Shulk, Rex isn't chosen by fate/God to become the Aegis's Driver, he just happened to be recruited on a mission to retrieve her and ends up becoming bonded to her out of the kindness of her heart. Well, and the fact that he had just died and it was the only way to revive him. That said, Pyra does believe it was fate that they met, and Rex is multiple times referred to as being similar to the hero Addam. Finally averted in the Torna expansion, which reveals that Mythra had a vision of Rex before sealing herself away.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Both played straight and deconstructed. Rex is very much a novice Driver (though he is more experienced at regular fighting than one would expect, thanks to Azurda teaching him from a young age), but his Blade just so happens to be one of the strongest in existence. This allows him to go toe-to-toe with opponents that have a lot more experience than him. However, he is far from invincible, and his inexperience can and does cost him battles, such as during his fight with Vandham in Chapter 3 where he essentially resorts to just spamming Pyra's fire projectiles despite Vandham just deflecting and dodging them until she uses up too much power and falters, allowing Vandham to easily finish the fight and give him a lesson. Invoked by Mòrag during her boss fight in Chapter 2:
  "The power of the Aegis is formidable, but the Driver's skill betrays her..."
• Unwitting Pawn: To Pyra and Mythra in their plan to commit suicide. Early on multiple characters, particularly Azurda and Nia, doubt that Pyra and Mythra want to go to Elysium for the whole "save humanity" thing, and they're right. Rex never doubts their motives at all until everyone else chews him out for not trying to get them back from Malos. Throughout the game their guilt from hiding this from Rex despite knowing it would break his heart makes their own problem much worse and Rex none the wiser. Luckily, by the time it becomes an issue, they both love Rex too much to want to die anymore.
• Vocal Dissonance: Despite being quite short for his age to the point where he could pass for a pre-teen Rex's voice is about as deep as the average teenage male or even young adult.
• What's Up, King Dude?: He's hilariously casual with Klaus to the point where he recites the Salvager's Code to him. Justified, as Klaus is very insistent that he isn't God despite being the Architect and wanted those present speak their unfiltered opinions. Rex accepts that Klaus is just a mortal man right away, and leaves the conversation calling him by his real name while thanking him for creating Alrest so that Klaus would die knowing his rebuilding humanity after his foolishness destroyed the first Earth wasn't just one more mistake.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: His enduring optimism is often criticized (but also praised) by the other characters, particularly Azurda and Nia. While he is eventually forced to confront the cold realities of life in Alrest, he keeps a stiff upper lip.
• Working-Class Hero: A simple salvager who makes a living pulling up scrap and treasures from the Cloud Sea, who gets wrapped up in an adventure that will decide the fate of the world.
• "X" Marks the Hero: He has a green X branded on his chest where part of Pyra's Core Crystal is embedded.

Nia (Niyah)

Click ^here to see Nia in her Blade form

"Here I come, ready or Gormotti!"

Voiced by: Hitomi Ohwada (Japanese), Catrin Mai Huw (English)

A member of Torna who Rex meets after he takes up a salvaging job. After witnessing her comrade Jin kill Rex, she defects from the group and decides to lend her aid to the newly revived Driver. Nia is a sharp-tongued Gormotti girl who's always accompanied by her Blade, guardian, and confidante Dromarch. For tropes pertaining to Xenoblade Chronicles 3, see here.

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• A-Cup Angst: Downplayed but it's there. When the female party members take a dip in the Mor Ardain hot springs, she expresses a thinly-veiled envy of Pyra and Mythra's goods.
• Ambiguously Bi: Even though Nia has shown attraction to Rex and even confesses her feelings for him, she has hinted at being attracted to Pyra and Mythra as well. During their journey in Tantal, Nia cuddles up against Pyra (mostly because she's warm and Nia hates the cold). During the hot spring visit, Nia comments on Mythra's body (which could be argued that she was a tad jealous). There's also the New Game Plus title screen where Nia can either hold both Rex and Pyra's hands or push Rex out of the way to take Pyra and Mythra's hands instead.
• Ambiguously Related: Neither the game's flashbacks nor Nia's words ever specify if Nia's previous Driver was the girl she calls "sister" or the man she calls "father," or the precise method/sequence of events by which she became a Flesh Eater. All we know for certain is that she spent a great deal of time trying to heal her "sister" and upon her death was infused with her cells, at which point her "father" insisted she start calling him such.
• Animal Motif: At least one Driver Art with almost every weapon are named after animals.
• Babies Ever After: She, Pyra, and Mythra are revealed in XC3 to have all married and had kids with Rex, with Nia's child implied to be some version of playable character Mio.
• Badass Boast: Delivers a pretty epic challenge to Malos:
  Nia: Your power destroys but mine restores. There is no wound you can inflict that I cannot heal.
• Battle Cry: In English: "Miii-YEH-YEH-YEH-YEH-YEH-YEH-YEH!" Often heard when she uses a Special.
• Bishōnen Line: Downplayed. In her Driver form, Nia is a jumpsuit wearing teenage Gormotti with Cat Girl traits. In her Blade form she wears heels and an outfit that midways between leotard and shinto priestess, and trades her catgirl traits for Kitsune traits, including elongated ears and tails if you look at her hair and sleeves.
• Blue Blood: Played with. Her noble father spent several fortunes fruitlessly trying to cure her chronically ill sister; he died shortly after she did. In truth, Nia was a Blade who was adopted by the noble family, though it's unclear which was her Driver. It's implied that the treatments that her "father" was so desperately looking for were healer Blades.
• Breakout Character: Nia became one of the most popular and beloved characters in the game aside from Pyra and Mythra, being one of the few characters to get her own scale figure. She also has two expies in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, those being playable character Mio and the antagonistic Queen of Agnus, along with the original cat herself returning as the true Queen of Agnus and a postgame party member, and is implied to be the mother of the former.
• Cats Are Snarkers: Has Cat Girl traits, and aside from being a gifted Driver, she's seemingly gifted with the ability of witty banter as well.
• Cat Girl: She's a Gormotti, one of many Cat Folk who hail from the Titan Gormott.
• Character Tics: Leans forward with her hands clenched when she's angry or surprised.
• Crutch Character: Nia being a dedicated healer is pretty good in the early game. As you level up, you're likely to switch over to tanking based on dodging or blocking rather than soaking up damage and it's possible to give everyone passive healing effects that remove almost all of the need for a dedicated healer. Even if you have a fight where you need a healer late game, it's better to equip a good healing Blade rather than have Nia as a dedicated healing Driver, meaning that Nia is overshadowed by herself, as she's a better healer as a Blade on Rex than as a driver.
• Cute Kitten: She's a Cat Girl, looks young, quite small and very cute. Also doubles as Badass Adorable.
• Cute Little Fangs: Has visible cuspids on her teeth line when she opens her mouth.
• Damsel in Distress: She and Dromarch are arrested shortly after arriving back at Torigoth, with Rex and Tora setting out to rescue them before their execution. Except... not really; it's just a rumor spread by Mòrag to draw out Rex and Pyra.
• Deadpan Snarker: She has a pretty sharp tongue, all things considered.
  Mòrag: So, you are the Torna ruffian. I must say you look a little... different, from your poster.
  Nia: A LITTLE different?! Whoever drew that, should be the one in jail!
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: After her family died she decided to hide her nature as a Blade and went on searching for a reason to live. This led her to join Torna as a rebel without a cause. It is only after adventuring with Rex and his optimism that she decides her purpose is to accept her nature as a Blade and protect those she loves.
• Distracted by the Sexy: She has a bit of a stare at Mythra in the hot spring scene, though, as above, her expression also communicates a bit of A-Cup Angst.
  Nia: N-nice bod you've got there.
• Dramatic Irony: There's a strong implication that her "father" was hoping Nia could heal his ailing daughter before she died. Only after she died and Nia devoured her at her father's command did she fully unlock her healing abilities.
• Dub Personality Change: Downplayed, while her base personality is generally the same in Japanese and English, there are some differences in how it comes across. In the original Japanese, she's depicted as more in the line of a Token Mini-Moe-type character with a high-pitched voice and childish personality and speaking patterns. The dub gives her a more mature-sounding voice and portrays her personality as snarkier and more world-weary, befitting the fact that she's really a Flesh Eater Blade with a more adult form.
• Everyone Has Standards: She has no problem working with a shady organization for personal gain, but does not take it well when Torna starts killing their hired help after locating the Aegis. This is, in fact, a major reason to her immediate Heel–Face Turn early in the story.
• Facial Markings: It's a little hard to see from far away but she does have white stripes on her face. Why she has these is never really explained.
• Foreshadowing: Her true identity as a Flesh Eater Blade can be hinted at throughout several moments in the game.
  • When Nia levels up, she may sometime boast that she is "stronger than this, y'know. Much, much stronger!" Indeed, her Blade form is much stronger than her Driver form, going from having healing abilities to having resurrection abilities.
  • There are several times where Nia clutches her chest in shock or distress, because that's where her Core Crystal is. Examples include when Cole revealed himself to be a Flesh Eater Blade, when Nia was reluctantly going transform to help her friends against Torna in Olethro Ruins, and when the Spirit Crucible Elpys was draining her Ether. Her Blade form is outright first seen (sans her whole face) when she uses Dromarch to distract the others while she revives Emperor Niall.
• First Girl Wins: Played With. Nia is the first female main character to meet Rex in the game, and the first to confess her feelings for him. Rex initially just gives her a Bait-and-Switch Sentiment to her, saying that he loves her, along with the rest of the team. By the end of the game, Nia is fully supportive of Pyra/Mythra being together with Rex. However, after the events of the game, as 3 reveals, Rex actually did accept Nia's feelings too and married her alongside Pyra and Mythra.
• Furry Reminder: As a Gormotti, she sometimes exhibits feline behaviors like hissing when she's mad, scratching at things, and meowing during battle. When using the Forestry skill in her Blade form, she remarks that she's never met a tree she didn't want to climb. Her ears also move to reflect her mood.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Nia wields the Catalyst Scimitar in many cutscenes after it is revealed. In gameplay, she can't do this outside of Rex's Catalyst Scimitar special attacks. She also fights alongside Dromarch as a Blade, even going so far as to wield her normal weapons as well; in gameplay, Nia cannot have any of her equipped Blades join her while she's active as one of Rex's.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Heatedly shoves Rex into a bunch of barrels when he succumbs to despair after a crushing defeat in Chapter 6.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Averted, as Nia is supportive of Rex and Pyra/Mythra since she has a strong friendship with Pyra and Mythra and wouldn't want to stand in the way of their relationship with Rex. Averted even harder as of the ending of XC3, where it's shown that she's perfectly happy to share Rex as a romantic partner between herself, Pyra and Mythra.
• Harmful Healing: She uses this intentionally against Malos, causing his cells to regenerate out of control and basically giving him fast-acting cancer that causes his body to start bursting at the seams. She remarks proudly that even if he is an Aegis his body is still made out of the same stuff as everyone else. Unfortunately, Malos is still a Blade and thus damage to his organic body cannot kill him, so this only takes him out of the picture until the next cutscene where he has fully recovered from the attack. Points for creativity, though.
• Hartman Hips: While she isn't well-endowed she does have a large pair of hips This is more noticeable in her true form.
• Heel–Face Turn: She's a member of Torna until Jin murders Rex by (literally) backstabbing him. Upon his revival, Nia quickly leaves Torna and joins Rex when they meet at her home Titan in Gormott.
• Internal Reveal: Her Flesh Eater nature is revealed to the player when she heals Emperor Niall with everyone distracted. It's only when the party faces the Phantasms guarding the third Aegis sword that she reveals herself, not wanting anyone dying on her again.
• Interspecies Romance: Being a Flesh Eater, Nia finds herself falling for Rex, a pure blooded human. The two wind up getting married and having a child before 3.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Nia and Rex's first meeting gets off to a rocky start, as Nia thinks of Rex as a "child". But this is also what motivates Nia's early Heel–Face Turn, as when Jin tries to kill Rex, and later Malos attacks Rex in an attempt to gain the Aegis, Nia is outraged that Jin and Malos would attempt to harm a "child" who wasn't doing anything wrong and wasn't hurting anybody.
• Just a Kid: Initially, Nia treats Rex like this when they first meet, as Nia believes Rex to be a "child". But this also motivates her to make a Heel–Face Turn, as she's incensed that Jin would stab someone who wasn't doing anything wrong and wasn't hurting anybody, and she thinks Malos must be out of his head to be "waling on a child".
• The Lancer: Nia, Rex's first and most consistent foil, who is snappy and critical in contrast to Rex's simple and open mind. In contrast to most RPG Lancers, she has the powers of the stock White Magician Girl rather than being a complimentary combat unit.
• Lethal Chef: One of the Heart-to-Hearts in Mor Ardain seems to imply this, as referenced when she offers to cook something with Pyra.
  Dromarch: You had best steel yourself, Master Rex. My lady's cooking is not what anyone would call "conventionally tasty"...
• Making a Splash: Even without her sword she can fight in Blade form by making various slicing and shooting attacks using compressed water she forms through motions of her hands.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: After The Reveal in Chapter 7, she can be played as a Driver or equipped as Rex's Blade.
• The Medic: Starts off with Dromarch, a healing-type Blade. Her various weapon Arts also include a few full-party heal spells. Her healing powers are significantly boosted in her Blade form, to the point that she can weaponize it by causing rampant cellular regeneration.
• Non-Standard Character Design: When compared to Torna, who she's introduced alongside. Torna's group are all designed by Tetsuya Nomura, are all clad in mostly dark outfits with sharp features, and Wutai inspired armour. Nia on the other hand is the one Gormotti with big Tsurime Eyes, ears that point backwards, oval head shape, and a much brighter colour scheme. No surprise then that she ends up defecting and joining the heroes.
• Not So Above It All: Nia can be on the dour side and takes herself seriously, but this is balanced by moments of complete daffiness when her blood gets pumping. Examples include her adorable cat-like dance to cheer on her Blades during a special, and her comments when she comes up for a Chain Attack:
  "Here I come, ready or Gormotti!"
• Platonic Declaration of Love: One viewpoint of her confession is this. Thanks to Rex's positive reinforcement Nia actually manages to come to terms with accepting herself and confess that she loves Rex. However her reason for doing this was to finally move forward with her life, to be accepted into her new family, and free herself of her burdens. Her tears of joy are due to the realization that Rex was accepting her as part of his family which she happily admits is all she could ask for. Afterwards she happily pushes Rex towards Pyra and Mythra after they are revived smiling and nodding to him, wanting him to be happy. Possibly downplayed, as regardless of how she meant to confess her "love" for Rex, she's shown at the end of XC3 as having formed an explicitly romantic relationship with Rex, Pyra, and Mythra sometime after the end of 2's story.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Dromarch. She only sees him as a family since he's the last reminder of her father after he passed away. When asked in Kora's sidequest, Nia says she sees him as a butler or a parent.
• Polyamory: As shown at the end of 3; she, Rex, Pyra, and Mythra resolve the love triangle between them by becoming a polycule.
• Punny Name: Nia (and her Japanese name Niyah even more so) is pronounced very similarly to "nyan," which is the sound of a cat in Japan.
  • Doubles as Meaningful Name, as the name Nia is a Welsh variant of an Irish name that means "bright" in Welsh. Given her abilities and her English dub accent, this ends up being a rather stealthy meaningful name and Bilingual Bonus.
• Red Herring: The player might be led to believe at the hot springs that Nia is only ashamed of her breast size compared to Pyra/Mythra's — who agrees not to tell people about something later in the scene when Nia is leaving the bath — given there was a Scenery Censor with the mist blocking the view of her chest, when in truth is that, while she is rather envious of Mythra's body, what she really was worried about was the fact that her chest contains a Core Crystal embedded to her body, which would point out to her status as a Flesh Eater. Pyra/Mythra had actually agreed to keep that a secret from the others.
• Replacement Goldfish: To her "father" after his real daughter passes away. While she still thinks fondly of her "father" in the present, he can't have been mentally stable given what needs to happen to make Nia a Flesh Eater.
• The Reveal: She is a Flesh Eater Blade with the ability to regenerate life. She uses this to counteract Malos' ability to erase all matter.
• Shipper on Deck: Nia is constantly supportive of Rex with Pyra/Mythra, teasing and pushing them to reveal their feelings for one another.
• Ship Tease: She has some teasing moments with Rex, as well as a few with Pyra and Mythra. After New Game Plus, the title screen changes so that she'll either get waved over to hold hands with Rex, or she'll tackle him out of the way and hold hands with Pyra and Mythra.
• Sinister Scimitar: Her Blade weapon.
• Stripperific: Nia's outfit as a Blade is a ceremonial dress that bottoms out to a pretty skimpy leotard.
• Stock Animal Diet: Seafood, but most importantly fish.
• Superpower Lottery: Nia is not only a successful Flesh Eater Blade, but the most successful Flesh Eater in history. Her preexisting healing powers are amplified to the point where they can outpace the Aegis Malos' destruction powers, reconstruct weapons damaged or destroyed by his powers, or even resurrect the dead if they're only recently deceased. They're so strong that she can use them to inflict a fast-acting cancer that risks making the victim explode. She can act as both a Driver and a Blade, though usually not simultaneously, and in Driver form she can hide her ether lines to become indistinguishable from any normal Gormotti as long as she wears a shirt. She suffers no medical complications, unlike Jin, and doesn't age, which due to lacking a Driver means she can live for as long as she likes.
• Tsundere: A modern Harsh one. She is prickly and quick to anger, but eventually develops a bond with the rest of the party. Doesn't mean she gets to wit at them at times, though.
• Trademark Favorite Food: She likes seafood in general, but has a special fondness for other dishes: Cream Orange Paratha and Snowbaby Potato Salad.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Mòrag after she joins the party, though this is more on Nia's side. Having pursued the party and locked her up early on the story, Nia is still (rightfully) suspicious of Mòrag joining them, even if the latter says she won't pursue them anymore. Nevertheless, Nia learns to work with her and warms up to her over time.
• Vocal Dissonance: Her English voice may make her sound a little older to some people who haven't heard a Welsh accent before, in spite of her rather young appearance, even if she is a Blade that can live for a long time.
• Walking Spoiler: Knowing everything about her reveals a great deal of the background plot and setting, and the motivations of a number of the villainous characters.

Tora

"Tora has no potential to awaken Core Crystal...so Tora will finish Blade myself and become a Driver like always wanted!"

Voiced by: Ai Nonaka (Japanese), Rasmus Hardiker (English)

A Gadgeteer Genius Nopon from Torigoth who, like his father and grandfather, dreams of being a Driver but simply has no talent to bond with Blades naturally. Instead, the family decides to build their own from scratch. When Rex and Pyra are on the run from authorities, Tora helps them escape and subsequently joins them when they help finish his masterpiece.

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• Badass Normal: Completely unable to resonate with Core Crystals. So he builds Poppi α instead.
• Bad Liar: He tries to convince Rex, Pyra, and Azurda that Poppi's initially bubbly personality was because of his father and grandfather. Keyword: tries.
• Big Brother Worship: Tora views Rex as a big brother and looks up to him.
• Big Eater: His size can be partially attributed to this; in particular his addiction to Tasty Sausages surprises even other Nopon. The only time his appetite fails him is when he enters an eating contest against the literally insatiable Boreas.
• Covert Pervert:
  • He clearly has a maid fetish that he tries to hide from others. His wardrobe is filled with maid costumes and Poppi's initial personality setting is that of a cutesy maid. Given Lila's Maid motif and Soosoo's aptly named "Not-safe-for-work Folio", this obsession with Maids appears to run in Tora's family.
  • He also programmed several "questionable" functions into Poppi for his own titillation, to Brighid's ire.
• Doting Parent: When he's not being weird about it, Tora adores Poppi. He is constantly preoccupied with her well-being and will sing her praises to anyone who will listen.
• Eloquent in My Native Tongue: In one post-battle dialogue chain, Zeke makes fun of Tora's Nopon speech patterns. Tora claims that, in Noponese, he's considered a poet.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Possibly the greatest Blade engineer in the world even before joining Rex's crew. He says at one point that he built Poppi from reverse-engineered scrap parts that he retooled to be both better than and unidentifiable from their original models, and that's not even getting into his magnum opus, Poppi QTπ, which has the potential to overpower even the Aegises.
• Fan Boy: Of Drivers, since he wishes to be one despite his missing the aptitude to resonate with a Core Crystal. This is why he helps Rex and Pyra escape Mòrag. He becomes an Ascended Fanboy upon joining the party, thanks to building Poppi.
• I Got Bigger: Puberty hit him hard, even by Nopon standards (Nopon it seems mature physically very quickly at a certain point, getting most of their growth done in that short period) given how Umon marvels at how much he grew in the year since he last saw him. Judging by a flashback later in the game, Tora roughly doubled in size in the course of a year. He's notably one of the largest Nopon in the franchise.
• Innocently Insensitive: A combination of the cultural differences between Nopons and humans and years of being holed up in his house working on Poppi mean that Tora is really bad with people. Despite being genuinely compassionate and empathetic, he's largely incapable of providing good emotional support. Even Poppi outshines him in this regard.
• Lightning Bruiser: He becomes this with full access to all of Poppi's forms. He has the highest HP out of everyone, can have super good agility with Poppi QT and his agility becomes even higher with Sunlight Chips on Poppi QT, has the best overall DPS in the entire game and Poppi QTπ has a move that can heal himself by 15%, which is typically a full heal with the damage Poppi QTπ can do. It's also very easy for him to take aggro in the late game due to Poppi QTπ's immense DPS, meaning there isn't a role he ends up failing at and can do every role better than anyone else.
• Made of Iron: Tora failed to become a Driver naturally, but got off with a 3-day nosebleed; many other unlucky Driver candidates fall unconscious for days or even die for their efforts. Appropriately, he and Poppi start off filling the Tank role, and Tora has the heroes's highest HP growth.
• Magikarp Power: Tora serves perfectly well as a tank early on, but having only one Blade becomes a hindrance in the midgame when Blade Combos dominate. Poppi's pre-loaded abilities also begin to wear thin, requiring the player to either play "Tiger! Tiger!" to get better ones or just switch him out for the much stronger and mechanically familiar Mòrag. The addition of Poppi QT fixes some of Tora's issues, but still leaves him lagging. Spend the time to fully upgrade and customize Poppi (Particularly using Poppi QTπ), though, and Tora can become strong enough to solo superbosses in a fraction of the time it takes other characters.
• Meaningful Name: His name means tiger; naturally, he's striped like one. Additionally, Poppi can be customized with parts and currency earned through a computer game called "Tiger! Tiger!"... which Tora developed himself.
• Mighty Glacier: Tora has naturally low dexterity and agility, as well as slow attack animations, but the highest HP growth of all the main cast. He also has Poppi, who at her full potential is a nigh-impenetrable Stone Wall.
• Missing Mom: In the "Tora's Tribe" Heart-to-Heart, his mother left his father due to his father's dedication to his work in artificial Blades. Ironically, Tatazo being true to his dreams was what attracted her to him in the first place.
• Naïve Newcomer: As the newest Driver and someone who wasn't even supposed to be one, he's constantly wondering how a true Driver should be, and if he's even up to the task. The issue is that Rex is usually his first pick to ask questions to... even though Rex was only a Driver for a few days more than him, resulting in really awkward answers.
• Nerd Action Hero: An engineering shut-in who gets to fight alongside trained soldiers, adventurers and mercenaries.
• Nerds Are Pervs: Tora (as well as his father and grandfather) is a Gadgeteer Genius, a Driver Fanboy, and The Smart Guy of the main cast, who is passionate about creating an artificial blade, Poppi. Prior to the story, he became The Shut-In out of fear of the people who killed his granddad and to focus on his work, causing him to have No Social Skills. Tora shows a very clear fetish for maids (that he tries to hide), which heavily influences the design and functions of Poppi: he has several maid outfits for Poppi and has programmed some... questionable fanservicey functions into the blade. Poppi QT and Poppi QTπ even take the respective forms of a maid girl and a riff on the Stripperiffic KOS-MOS. Considering that the artificial blades his dad and grandfather created also have some maid motifs, the fetish appears to run in the family.
• No Social Skills: Tora is quite sensitive and can tell when someone is bothered by something. But between being an engineering shut-in and being a Nopon (which leads to some In-Universe Values Dissonance) he has trouble getting people to open up. In particular, he often breaks the ice by asking someone if they're hungry or worried about money, which are common topics for Nopons; others just find it offensively trivial or personal.
• One-Steve Limit: He shares his name with another Nopon from Xenoblade Chronicles X. This is lampshaded by Elma when she asks him if he knows Tatsu (the Tora of Mira is Tatsu's rival). Tora saying he doesn't know of any Nopon named Tatsu in Alrest confirms to Elma that he is not the Tora she knows. As that Tora got his name from the Tiger Versus Dragon metaphor, this Tora is more of a literal tiger with his stripe patterns on his fur.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Comes with being a Nopon.
• Rule of Cool: A strong believer in it. He's into engineering because machines should be awesome (or lewd) in some way, a man's romance as he puts it. His designing method starts with picking a name as cool as possible ("the most important step!") and then building around it. One Heart-to-Heart reveals that he felt incredibly sad for his dadapon when he was kidnapped to work for Bana's factory, not because he was forced to build war machines, but because he was forced to design generic, uninteresting Mecha-Mooks.
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Most of his Arts are named after sound effects in Japanese.
• Science Hero: Fights alongside Poppi α, whom he built and programmed from scratch (with the help of his Dadapon and Grampypon's schematics).
• Shield Bash: His primary weapon is a shield that he simply bludgeons enemies with. Played with in that said shield is also a Swiss-Army Weapon that employs saw blades, a large drill, and an even larger Jet Biter.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: His presence in cutscenes is inversely proportional to how serious things are getting. It's not uncommon for him to be completely silent during particularly heavy events.
• The Shut-In: A combination of fear of the people who killed his grandfather and his obsessive drive to complete Poppi have made it so that it has been *years* since he left his home for any significant length of time. Journeying with Rex is the first time in a while that he's been outside, and it shows.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Played with. He is the shortest of the playable characters, but is pretty sizable for a Nopon; he's a brilliant engineer, but misses the finer points of human etiquette.
• The Smart Guy: Tora, the inventor with no innate abilities as a driver that makes up for it by creating an artificial blade. He also looks up to Rex as a sidekick would a hero.
• Spear Counterpart: He's an Expy of Lin Lee Koo, being a Gadgeteer Genius with a close friendship with the main character, being the party's initial tank character (and uses Shields as a weapon), and has story quests that involve finishing a great creation started by relatives.
• Stone Wall: He has incredible HP growth and Poppi starts off as a Tank-type.
• Took a Third Option: He couldn't be a Driver, and he could've given up, but he took option 3 by building Poppi.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: A variation. He hopes completing Poppi will be enough of an achievement to catch his father's attention, not because he need the approval itself, but because Tatazo has been missing for years and such a feat should bring him running home.
• Younger Than They Look: By Nopon standards, at least. In the Challenge Pack DLC, Tora gets offended when Shulk pegs him for 50 by comparing him to the 40-year-old Riki from his world, countering that he's younger than Shulk (at least 19 by the time of his arrival in the DLC) by "many years," putting him at around Rex's age or even younger.

Vandham

"This world's full of war. Don't matter if you're a soldier or not. As long as you're alive...you're in the war, some way or another."

Voiced by: Tesshō Genda (Japanese), Simon Thorp (English)

The leader of the Garfont Mercenaries and partnered with the Blade Roc. The party encounters him after ending up in Uraya when their initial attempt to reach the World Tree goes awry, and he becomes something of a mentor figure for Rex and to a lesser extent the others.

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• Acrofatic: While he's more muscle than fat, Vandham is very stocky by Urayan standards. However, he's also incredibly agile for a man his size both in gameplay and cutscenes, partially as a result of his bond with Roc.
• Awesome Aussie: Has a big, bold Australian accent in the English dub.
• The Big Guy: Vandham, the gruff older jolly giant who leads a mercenary company, and teaches young Rex about how to find his place in the world. His blade, Roc, subscribes to a lot of the same philosophies.
• Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: He's a mountain of muscle, and also the first major character to be Killed Off for Real.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Just listen to his battle yells!
• Blood Knight: Fought Rex just for a chance to face the legendary Aegis.
• Blue Blood: He is descended from Urayan nobility, but chose to leave Fonsa Myma and lead his own band of mercenaries.
• Covered with Scars: He has a big cross-shaped scar over his face and more on his chest and arm.
• Crutch Character: Vandham will most likely outclass Rex when he joins the party thanks to his high level and stats. He can perform Driver combos (Break-Topple-Launch) and Blade combos (Water-Earth-Wind) with Nia and Tora. However, he doesn't stick around for long and his limited Blade options means Rex would catch up eventually.
• Cultured Warrior: Despite being a rough-and-tumble mercenary with an Australian accent, his lessons and musings to Rex reveal Vandham is quite the thinker with an eye for teaching both practical and philosophical things and being well-versed in how the world of Alrest works. Which makes sense, given after his death you can learn he's actually of noble birth and likely had the requisite education before he struck out as a mercenary.
• The Cynic: Not as much of a snark as other examples of this trope, but his view about the world of Alrest isn't exactly friendly, as he would like to attest to Rex. Seeing the game's setting, he's not wrong.
  "This world's full of war. Don't matter if you're a soldier or not. As long as you're alive... you're in the war, some way or another. [...] Life can be cruel. Crueler than you know. That's why I set up this little band, so I could protect the people I care about. [...] Rex, you're the Driver of the Aegis. The whole world's gonna try and scalp you, you realize that? How ya gonna live, when you got everyone gunning for ya? It'd be easy to run. All you need to do is to ditch that girl..."
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: When Obrana weakens the party by restricting the ether flow in the surrounding atmosphere, thus heavily weakening the heroic Blades and hence the Drivers, Vandham reveals it's possible to circumvent this. He does so by stabbing himself with Roc's scythes and channeling the ether through his own body directly, allowing him to launch wind blasts from his hands. Of course, doing this is obviously incredibly taxing on a Driver's body, and this coupled with Malos' deadly counterattack proves fatal.
• Defector from Decadence: You may find a Phonex in Garfont Village who reveals that Vandham — actually Aquila Paronet Sol Esteriole by birth — was once Urayan nobility. He christened himself Vandham after a folk hero and left Fonsa Myma to seek a more meaningful way of life. You'll need Nim, who understands the Phonex language.
• Exotic Weapon Supremacy: Part of why Vandham's so formidable is that Roc is such a highly unusual Blade, and Vandham's one of the few people in the world that can use him properly.
• Flunky Boss: Joined by his men in his boss battle.
• Gentle Giant: Despite his hulking figure (to the point Tora calls him "Biggipon"), he's one of the kinder souls in the game, offering Rex and the party a place to stay when they're washed up on Uraya and even taking in some war orphans. With that said, he's not afraid to let loose when people start threatening those closest to him.
• Guest-Star Party Member: He joins the party near the beginning of Chapter 3. He is killed by Malos and Akhos to stall them from killing the rest of the party at the end of Chapter 3.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Dies trying to hold back Malos and Akhos for the party to run, which also results in Roc returning into a Core Crystal. Unfortunately, this just ends up spurring Rex into a furious and desperate attack on Malos, where if it weren't for the timely emergence of Mythra they likely all would have died anyways and made it a Senseless Sacrifice. Fortunately, Roc can come back to life by Rex's hand a little later.
• Hidden Depths: After his death, one of his mercenaries reveals that he had a hobby of planting and tending trees around Garfont.
• Large and in Charge: The head of the Garfont Mercenaries, and its largest member.
• Manly Man: He's a Manly Man who rocks the Heroic Build, wears soldier equipment, and is a powerful Lightning Bruiser who hands Rex his ass at the end of the boss fight. Unfortunately, he dies in the same chapter he's introduced in.
• The Mentor: Acts as one to Rex, giving him pieces of life advice, Driver tips, and even teaching him how to topple an enemy with his grappling hook. Which makes his death all the more painful for Rex.
• Mr. Exposition: Vandham not only mentors Rex In-Universe, but he also foreshadows a lot of plot development by explaining Blades, Core Crystals, and how Blades lose their memories when they return to their crystals. He also explicitly explains why Rex and Pyra sharing wounds is significant, in case the audience did not pick up on the earlier contradiction/implication that Blades should have a Healing Factor yet Pyra doesn't.
• Nom de Guerre: According to a Phonex, "Vandham" is really a nickname he adopted from a childhood role model.
• Overly Long Name: His birth name is Aquila Paronet Sol Esteriole, as he was of the noble House of Paronet.
• Outliving One's Offspring: A major part of Vandham's fondness for Rex is that the boy reminds him of his deceased son.
• Real Men Eat Meat: His Trademark Favorite Food is Armu T-Bone Steak.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Never bonds with any other Blade, but believes having Roc at his side at all times is enough.

Mòrag Ladair (Merefu Rahatto)

"I get the feeling that, if I stay near that boy, I might bear witness to something quite extraordinary."

Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga (Japanese), Kirsty Mitchell (English)

The Special Inquisitor and strongest Driver of the Mor Ardain empire, Mòrag is accompanied by her Blade Brighid.

---

• The Ace: While all of the party are quite capable, Zeke being her equal, Mòrag is the most well known member of the party in terms of how infamous her abilities are. She's devoted her life to becoming the best Driver she can be in power and skill, and it shows in her accomplishments and the renown she has garnered across Alrest. Further, she keeps up with everyone else despite being a "regular" Driver among a party of Drivers who are all enhanced in some way (Tora having a one-of-a-kind artificial Blade of incredible power, Zeke being a Blade Eater, Rex being an Aegis Driver, and Nia being a Flesh Eater). The few things she is not good at are notably ones that don't impact her work or fighting ability.
• Animal Motifs: Many of her Arts allude to dragons in some way (as Western dragons are known for breathing fire), most notably with Brighid's Swirling Dragon (which isn't exclusive to Mòrag, as Rex and Hugo can have her use it too), but even with Blades like Fiora.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Mòrag is very proud of her skills and abilities. She often says "This is the culmination of years of training" and "there is a reason why I am Special Inquisitor." She looks down on Rex's shoddy Driver skills early in the game, and is insulted at the idea that her opponents are holding back on her, yet is also disappointed when enemies go down quickly because she does not get the chance to show off her skills.
• Been There, Shaped History: Her motivation for joining the party. She senses great things are going to happen around Rex and Pyra and wishes to see them for herself.
• Being Personal Isn't Professional: When acting in her role as Special Inquisitor, Mòrag almost never allows her personal feelings to intervene. While this makes her an effective agent, it's telling that she insists on referring to Niall as "Emperor" despite their closeness even in scenes where they're alone or just in the company of Brighid and Aegaeon, and he has to slowly extract an admission that she's grown a soft spot for Rex and the party while convincing her to go with them for the rest of their journey.
• Berserk Button:
  • She doesn't tolerate jokes indicating how masculine she looks, particularly not from Zeke. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Mikhail calling out her gender and making passes at her is one of the few things that has her break composure and become enraged. She even calls him a pig to his face.
  • On a more comedic note, she has a disdain for being outdone or one-upped in even the most mundane tasks, or even ones where being 'outdone' isn't really possible (like deciding where she wants her grave to be). Usually, it's not enough to particularly rile her up, but if Zeke is the one who's outdoing her...
• Big Sister Instinct: She's got a very soft spot in her otherwise strict personality for her younger cousin, Emperor Niall. He even calls her big sister.
• Bifauxnen: Even under her androgynous military threads and face-obscuring visor, Mòrag is boyishly handsome. In Japanese she is voiced by Mitsuki Saiga, who uses a husky androgynous voice and is often typecast as such characters.
• Big "WHAT?!": One that the player will be hearing a lot, since she lets a very loud one out in gameplay every time she gets knocked over.
• Boring, but Practical: She does not have access to any exclusive invokedGame-Breaker Blades, with the exception of the DLC Blade Corvin (who works best with her but is still excellent with everyone else). However, unlike Tora and Zeke, she does not have to grind for Tiger! Tiger! (Tora) or wait for New Game Plus (Zeke) to obtain strong exclusive Blades. The game hands out to you Aegaeon in Chapter 6 and she can obtain Theory as early as Chapter 7.
• Brave Scot: In the English dub, especially considering she has one of the heaviest Scottish accents out of all the Mor Ardainian characters. This is also given the fact that Mòrag's English voice actress is Scottish herself.
• Cannot Tell a Joke: The few times she tries, it just falls utterly flat. Even Brighid seems unimpressed. There's an entire Heart-to-Heart option based around this. Her first attempt to copy Zeke's joke not only isn't funny at all, but accidentally implies that she wants to be buried right next to him. In the second attempt she basically says she'd want to be with Rex instead. Everyone catches the implications of what she just said except Mòrag herself.
• Celibate Hero: According to her statement in Kora's sidequest, Mòrag is not interested in getting into a romantic relationship or dating, since it's a distraction from her military arts.
• Commissar Cap: She wears one to indicate her rank.
• Contralto of Strength: She's legendary for being the most powerful Driver in Mor Ardain and is initially presented as a fearsome opponent of the party, and has one of the deepest female voices, especially her Japanese voice which can easily be mistaken for a man's (courtesy of Mitsuki Saiga).
• The Comically Serious: Several Heart-to-Hearts put her in mundane situations that she approaches with the same grim valor she applies to her job. These include a miserable attempt to cook a monkfish, learning how to crack jokes with Rex and Zeke (and failing), and arguing with Tora about going into the hot springs with the men.
• Dual Wielding: Wields Brighid's twin swords in combat.
• Even the Girls Want Her: A female NPC in Mor Adain can be heard fawning over Mòrag. She even becomes starstruck when you speak to her as Mòrag.
• Everyone Can See It: At least several characters can see that Mòrag developed a bit of a soft spot for Rex, which she vehemently denies.
• Expy: She is a Gender Flip version of Dunban from the original Xenoblade. Mòrag is a high-ranking soldier who is widely respected as the most powerful warrior of her homeland. She is the most down-to-earth and professional party member. She becomes a permanent party member by reinforcing the heroes when they are about to be overwhelmed. She has a little cousin who she considers a little sibling. Said little sibling would then sacrifice himself to save Mòrag along with the party and then gets revived later. While her default weapon isn't a katana, she is the best katana user of the party, and she even obtains a katana later in the story. Most of her Arts' names make heavy use of kanji, just as Dunban's did. Her playstyle is also similar to Dunban; she is an Agility Tank who can also dish out damage.

  Fiora: You know, Mòrag, you remind me of my big brother a lot.

• The Face: Once she allies with Rex, the words "I'm with the Special Inquisitor of Mor Ardain" make a lot of diplomacy-based obstacles evaporate from the plot.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Her left shoulder has an armored pauldron on it, whereas her right is unadorned.
• Foil:
  • To Zeke. Both of them fight Rex and the party multiple times before eventually joining it. They are also the strongest Drivers in their respective Titans. However, Mòrag's reputation precedes her and is treated as a No-Nonsense Nemesis while Zeke is initially introduced as the comic relief and it takes him three fights to finally show off his true power. Both are also royalty to a certain extent but whereas Mòrag became the Special Inquisitor of Mor Ardain, Zeke ended up disowned and was exiled from Tantal before eventually making a home in Indol.
  • Also to Rex. Both are Drivers who's primary Blades are fire-based and some of the strongest Blades around. They are also the only two Drivers shown on-screen canonically have more than one Blade (barring Tora who simply upgrades Poppi and Lora) with Rex having the Aegis and Roc (and Nia) and Mòrag having Brighid and gaining Aegaeon's Core Crystal after Chapter 6. However, Mòrag is a lot more experienced and skilled as a Driver while Rex is rather inexperienced to the point where he just beam spammed Pyra's attacks at his opponent before realizing what it truly meant to be a Driver. Rex is just a nobody from Letheria while Mòrag was born into royalty. Rex met Pyra purely by chance (all Torna needed was a Leftherian to open the door) while Mòrag was born into royalty and as such was one of the few who actually had a chance to resonate with the Jewel of Mor Ardain. Their relationships with Pyra and Brighid are also contrasted. When they first met Pyra, despite being a Nice Girl was merely using Rex as a tool to get to the Architect so that she could die. Whereas Brighid has nothing but Undying Loyalty to Mòrag. In a sense Rex and Pyra represent how Mòrag and Brighid would've been when first starting out as a team and how they would've been had they not grown in skill and experience.
• Heel–Face Turn: Unflagging in her service to the Empire, Mòrag eventually comes to see some truth to Rex and Pyra's version of events. She eventually joins the party, and in fact was a case of Good All Along.
• Heir Club for Men: With no male heirs available, Mòrag was actually raised to be the Empress, and would have been the first one in Mor Ardain's history. However, when Niall was born, she stepped aside and he became heir. She doesn't mind in the least, but he worries about it quite a bit.
• Hero Antagonist: During her time as an enemy, she is simply seeking to protect the world from Pyra's threat and later deal with the incidents involving Lila, for which she initially suspects Poppi.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: After her second loss to the party, she notes they've gotten stronger, especially with the Aegis there in the flesh, but also admits she was still holding back. The only other time she's fought is during a dream sequence where Rex fights everyone, but she was going through the same thing at the same time, so it was more than likely she was winning in her version of the events too. As a result, the question of who's the best driver is never definitively answered, beyond Mòrag and Zeke being roughly equal, though it's taken as fact that in a fair fight, the only competition Mythra even potentially has is Zenobia.
• It Gets Easier: One sidequest involves solving the murder of a Senator in Mor Ardain. Mòrag takes the unhappy job of informing the Senator's husband, commenting that delivering such news is something she's grown accustomed to.
• King Incognito: Averted. She is of royal blood, and was being groomed by her uncle to become Empress of Mor Ardain. However, her uncle the Emperor had a son, Niall, and as leadership primarily passes from father to son, he instead became the Heir of Mor Ardain.
• Lady Looks Like a Dude: At the hot springs in Mor Ardain, Tora reveals he's mistaken Mòrag for a man for some time — awkward, but not an unusual error from a different species. She is much less tolerant when Zeke suggests she wear a skirt and heels to make it clearer.
• Lady of War: She is very calm and her voice rarely rises above a quiet drawl even in the midst of battle. In her early appearances, the camera frequently films her speaking scenes from the side to just hide her mouth behind her shoulder, adding an aura of mysterious elegance to her. In addition, her cap's bill is interestingly designed like a metal grill and it frequently frames her eyes, making her look reminiscent of a dignified medieval knight.
• Lethal Chef: She only shows shades of this when dealing with dying living ingredients such as fish. She can't really bring herself to deal with food when it's still alive, as that makes her feel guilt and gradual panic. The end result is an Art-to-the-stove.
• Made of Iron: While her role in the party is designed to be an agility Tank (i.e. one who directs attacks to her but tries to avoid getting hit rather than relying on pure durability), she still shows herself to have this, such as when she takes a direct hit from the Monoceros' mounted guns but comes away with no real damage simply by raising one sword-bearing arm to shield herself. She also seems to have some resistance to fire (or at least fire produced by Brighid), as she walks right through a wall of flame in one of her first appearances.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Mòrag is Scottish Gaelic for "princess", as fitting of the former heir apparent to the Empire of Mor Ardain.
  • A possible romanization of her Japanese name メレフ・ラハット is "Melech/Melekh Lahat", which is Biblical Hebrew in origin. "Melech" (מלך) is the word for "king", a reference to her regal Bifauxnen appearance and the fact that she was born to become the monarch of Mor Ardain, while "Lahat" (להט) is the word for "blaze/flame", a reference to her wielding of the powerful Fire Blade Brighid.
• Ms. Fanservice: Generally averted as her outfit and hat cover her entire body and most of her face and hair, but her "Obligatory Leave Mòrag" costume puts her in a swimsuit that exposes her curves, along with letting down her hair and replacing her hat with a sun visor. And the swimsuit is mostly see-through fabric, so even the usually stripperiffic Pyra and Mythra show less skin than her in their own beach outfits!
• Never Bareheaded: The number of times her cap comes off can be counted on one hand. Even her swimsuit costume has her wear a visor.
• Not So Above It All: Upon joining Rex's team, she softens up a bit — particularly when bantering with Zeke.
• Not So Stoic: Her prim and proper demeanor only breaks a few times, but they're all pretty spectacular breakdowns.
  (At the end of Chapter 5): "NO! SHIT! Who gave that damn order?!"''
  • Her worst is when Niall dies.
• Only One Name: Not quite (as shown above), but for the vast majority of the game, she is only addressed by her title and/or first name. Her full name is used only a handful of times and can be easily missed.
• Only Sane Man: Mòrag, and her blade Brighid (The Stoic) share this role. As a military commander, she is much more worldly, and rational than the rest of the cast, and contributes through her experience and professional contacts.
• Prim and Proper Bun: On the extremely rare occasion that her cap comes off, we can see that her hair is done up in a neat and tight bun.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: According to Dromarch, she's the highest ranked officer in the imperial army. She's also well-known as the most powerful Driver in the Empire.
• Red Baron: Dreaded throughout Alrest as "the Flamebringer".
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The story initially presents her as Mor Ardain's answer to Darth Vader, complete with half-truths that suit her, but in reality she's always willing to parley, as long as she believes the other party is acting in good faith. In fact, she's honest with the party from the very start — Rex may not have liked her answers, but they were as complete and accurate as Mòrag could get with the information available, and given in appropriate context.
• Reverse Armfold: Her default stance, as expected due to her strict military discipline.
• The Rival: To Zeke, who she knew by reputation long before meeting the party. She mentions strongly desiring to spar with him to Rex before they joined forces, and Brigid warns Rex off from talking about it too much lest he rekindle that desire.
• Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: As a soldier and diplomat, Mòrag is entirely peerless, essentially functioning as a small army on her own. However, taking her out of battle is like taking a fish out of water. She's not great with people outside of her official capacity, and her attempts to cook are quite literally catastrophic. Niall notes that she wasn't always like this, but she became so devoted to her role as Special Inquisitor that there was little room for much else.
• Sitcom Archnemesis: She has this dynamic with Zeke. In several Heart-to-Hearts, Zeke makes fun of her masculinity, and she threatens to kill him in return.
• Stock Shōnen Rival: Mòrag starts out as an antagonistic rival to Rex, being his superior in nearly every way and opposing him and Pyra for (albeit noble) reasons, along with being a key figure behind Nia's kidnapping. As Rex begins to best her in combat, she begins to take an interest in his strength and eventually joins the party, becoming a true friend to him.
• Technician Versus Performer: The technician to Zeke’s performer, which her usage of all weapons being precise and refined, befitting her years of experience and training as Mor Ardain’s special inquisitor, to the point that she expresses disdain towards Zeke’s desire to emulate one of her attacks simply because he thought it was “snazzy.”
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Less tomboy and more militarily unfeminine, but she does occasionally hint at womanly interests, such as muttering under her breath that she might need skincare after a battle. In the Pandoria's Troubles Heart-to-Heart, one option allows Mòrag to share her and Brighid's beauty tips with Pandoria, such as the beauty products they import from Argentum. Her beauty routine ends up being suprisingly comprehensive.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Nia after she joins the party, though this is more on Nia's side. Mòrag having pursued the party and locked her up early on the story, Nia is still (rightfully) suspicious of Mòrag joining them, even if the latter says she won't pursue them anymore. Nevertheless, Nia learns to work with her and warms up to her over time.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Initially wants to take Pyra under her control to prevent her power from killing several Titans as it did 500 years ago. After her first fight with Rex, she reevaluates this idea.
• Western Samurai: She synergizes especially well with the Chroma Katana weapon type, and in Japanese her Arts tend to be named exclusively in kanji and hiragana, in contrast to Rex, Nia, and Tora's English-derived katakana names, or Zeke's blended names.

Zeke von Genbu (Zeke B. Ultimate Genbu)

"Behold the mighty Zeke! Von! Genbu! Bringer of Chaos! Mostly known as Zeke. And often addressed as THE ZEKENATOR!"

Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (Japanese), Daniel Barker (English)

A tall, flamboyant swordsman with a flair for dramatic threats and an unlucky streak as long as history. Zeke seeks the Aegis, leading him into conflict with Rex and the party on multiple occasions. He wears an eyepatch that he is really proud of. He's accompanied by his Blade (and all-around handler, much to her exasperation) Pandoria.

Now has his own page.

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• Affectionate Nickname: While initially demeaning, he eventually does warm up to the "Shellhead" nickname Nia gives him.
  Pandoria: You answer to that now?
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • His Ultimate Lightning Fury Slash is visually spectacular, but, on top of not aiming it properly to hit anyone with it, it destroys the cliff he fought the party on. It suffers from this to a lesser extent in normal gameplay as well, where it does good damage and inflicts Blowdown, but has one of the longest animations of any Driver Art.
  • His Megalance arts involve him doing tons of flashy animations, but they tend to be very long and the resulting damage is often not worth the long start up time.
• Badass Longcoat: He wears a tattered black longcoat over his bare torso.
• Big Brother Mentor: Becomes one to Rex, teaching him about the world and it's people through stories about his own experiences with them. This clearly had a profound effect on Rex, who in Future Redeemed refers to Zeke as someone who he really looked up to.
• Bishie Sparkle: Gives one in his introductory scene, to Nia's disgust.
• Born Unlucky: He is extremely prone to bad luck, as shown by his early encounters with the party being interrupted by something bad happening to him. It is for this reason that it takes until their third encounter to explain that he is a representative of Indol and means no harm.
  Tora: We all be shipwrecked by morning.
• Broken Pedestal: Zeke harbors some admiration and affection for Praetor Amalthus, both for saving his life and because he sympathized with Amalthus' misanthropy to a degree. However, Zeke ends up deeply disappointed by the extent of Amalthus' hatred of the world. He can't bring himself to hate Amalthus, but is reduced to pity and disgust at The Reveal.
• Butt-Monkey: He tends to get the short end of the stick, mostly due to his awful luck. And even as Tantal's prince and its strongest Driver, Zeke doesn't quite command the respect he ought to, probably due to his easygoing and goofy personality.
• Calling the Old Man Out: He was exiled from Tantal for rebelling against their isolationist nature, which he feels is killing the country.
• Chuunibyou: He spouts a lot of dramatic nonsense, pushes nicknames like "the Zekenator" with all his might, and insists his eyepatch hides a force of nonspecific but incredible destruction termed "the Eye of Shining Justice" (and totally not his excuse for cheaping out on contact lenses). Nobody's fooled. Turns out it's actually true, at least in New Game Plus. His Arts names also tend to be over-the-top, and in Japanese tend to either be ludicrously long strings of kanji or a mishmash of kanji and katakana, invoking a sense of Gratuitous English. He apperently never grows past this, as one side quest in Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed has Rex attempting to cook Zeke's daughter's favorite food, but Zeke's description of one of the fish involved and how to acquire it was so outlandish that it tricks Rex into mistaking it for a kaiju sized sea monster.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Zeke definitely fits this trope to a T, as he always seems to be in his own little world. He’s actually a deconstructed example. Zeke didn't start out this way; after his father didn't approve of his lifestyle, he ran away from home and has since been a wandering nomad. Years of isolation, aside from Pandoria, has loosened a few of his screws. Once he joins Rex and the gang, he starts to open up and become more down to earth, even if he still has his fair share of quirks.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Yes, his mannerisms are a bit... odd, but he still proves to be a formidable Driver in his own right. In one display, he downs the entire party in one fell swoop with no distractions to get in his way. Mòrag matter-of-factly describes him as the most powerful Driver in all of Tantal, and Rex compliments after their third fight that Zeke is just as formidable a Driver as Mòrag.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: In New Game Plus, the Eye of Shining Justice actually is real, and he becomes an incredible Lightning Bruiser, pun intended, when it's activated.
• Dark Secret: Zeke's return to Tantal prompts a revelation from his father, King Eulegimenos, that they are not descended from the hallowed folk hero Addam — but from a cadet branch of the old royal family of Torna that took advantage of the chaos after the Aegis War. The prequel expansion heavily implies that Zeke's line was descended from the Tornan king's brother and Addam's uncle Zettar.
• Exposed to the Elements: He never wears a shirt underneath his longcoat, even in the frigid Kingdom of Tantal, his own homeland. This is lampshaded when Nia brings it up, only for Pandoria to point out he's gotten used to it.
  Pandoria: He's naturally dense. It's good insulation.
• Expy: Of Bart Fatima, as both are very Hot-Blooded exiled princes with an eyepatch over their left eye. Made explicit when using Zeke's Embercake costume, a Palette Swap that directly gives him Bart's colors. Earlier in development he was also planned to be more of a Citan Expy who wielded a katana, and an unused palette swap explicitly references Citan's outfit; one aspect he shares with Citan that was retained in the final product is a subplot in which Zeke's secret mission is to monitor the progress of Rex and the Aegis on behalf of the Indoline Praetorium.
• Eyepatch of Power: Or at least he thinks so. According to Pandoria he wears it because he couldn't afford a second contact lens.
• Genre Savvy: For all his blockheaded moments, he knows that Nia asking him to try to calm down Mythra and Kora during their catfight would basically be pouring gasoline on a fire. Nia is surprised that he actually realizes how much trouble he causes for once.
• Glass Cannon: With Pandoria equipped. He hits HARD, but his defenses are abysmal and his arts have long start-up times and lock him in place, rendering him highly vulnerable. That said, defenses are determined by the Blade equipped and Pandoria's are abysmal, so if Zeke is using a Blade with better defenses, he can actually take advantage of his high natural HP and become a Mighty Glacier.
• Heroic Lineage: As a royal of Tantal, he is a direct descendant of the hero Addam. Except not really. His ancestors pretended to be his descendants in order to take control during the chaos of Addam's disappearance after the Aegis War. Zeke was completely unaware of the lie, and is quite devastated when he finds out. However, the prequel implies that the Tantal royal line descends from Addam's uncle Zettar, meaning he is still related to Addam, just far more distantly than he believed..
• Hidden Depths: While he acts like and is an overdramatic goofball, Zeke offers surprisingly insightful tidbits of wisdom from time to time. He also is fairly well-versed in politics, uses sophisticated vocabulary, and is capable of impressive mental mathematics. Not to mention his devastating swordsmanship.
• Hot-Blooded: Look at him. Everything about Zeke from his mannerisms to dialogue oozes passion and intensity. The most prominent example probably being his incredibly over the top names for all of his driver arts.
• I Am Very British: Subverted in the English dub. To players outside of the UK, he can sound at first glance like he speaks in a Received Pronunciation accent and sounds more posh than the other characters (pronunciation-wise), but he actually has a slightly less formal Southern English (London) accent like Shulk and Fiora, which contrasts him against his father who plays this trope straight and berates Zeke for speaking like a "commoner".
• The Idiot from Osaka: Speaks with a Kansai accent in the Japanese version to indicate his dimwitted hotblooded nature. In the English dub, he instead speaks with a Southern Englander accent but delivered in a more jovial and exaggerated tone to convey the same.
• Impoverished Patrician: Despite his royal heritage, he's been traveling in exile for the past several years and has had to work odd jobs to get by. Justified in that he doesn't advertise his status or use it to get things for himself. In one Heart to Heart Pandoria notes that she and Zeke sometimes got so hungry camping out while tracking/waiting for Rex's group that they were tempted to eat their mascot Turters.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Despite his "hero of justice" schtick, his travels throughout the world have made him deeply cynical and pessimistic. Opening up to Rex about it softens him up a little, but he's still noticably more jaded than the terminally optimistic Rex.
• Large Ham:
  • Says that he has "the mind of a hero" inside his eyepatch.
  • His encounter line as a boss is 'Whoops! I went and revealed my incredible power!'. His Driver Art names are all also ridiculously hammy.
• Late Character Syndrome: Has the misfortune of not only joining last, but being the only one to have direct competition for party role^note Nia's the only healer specialist; Tora and Mòrag tank in different ways and the former has plot-based utility in a few areas. He's by no means a bad Damager but when you're competing with Rex equipped with Mythra the deck's stacked against him. He only gets a relief in this on New Game Plus, due to his hidden affinity chart being the best out of all of them, and during the postgame because of his proficiency in wielding some of the most powerful Infinity +1 Sword Blades.
• Lethal Joke Item: Or joke attack, rather. Throughout the game, he hypes up "the Eye of Shining Justice" as his ultimate attack, but he never uses it, making it seem like he's lying out of his ass for the sake of spectacle. In New Game Plus, if his secret Affinity Chart is filled out, then he does unlock the Eye of Shining Justice as an attack, which has a long charge time, but dishes out the most damage from a single attack in the entire game.
• Lord Country: His real name, Ozychlyrus Brounev Tantal.
• Magic Knight: He has high stats in both Strength and Ether, so whether you give him Great Axes or Ether Cannon, Zeke will always do well.
• Meaningful Name:
  • His last name, "von Genbu", refers to Genbu of The Four Gods, depicted as a tortoise with a snake for a tail (sometimes simply called "the Chimzera" or "the Tortoise"). It's also the only reference to The Four Gods to make it past translation; Byakko, Suzaku, and Seiryu becoming Dromarch, Roc, and Azurda respectively.
  • In Japanese, his first name Zeke is short for "Sîvrit", another way to spell the name Siegfried. Fittingly, Zeke is also a Warrior Prince with a large scar on his chest near his shoulder where part of Pandoria's crystal was implanted.
• Mighty Glacier: Zeke becomes this if equipped with Blades with high defenses, such as KOS-MOS and Shulk. He's still slow, but his naturally high HP and his Blades' defenses mean he can actually take a hit, especially if he has some means of self-healing.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: In his first two encounters, he appears to be absolutely moronic and overdramatic. When he joins the party after his last encounter, he demonstrates that while he's still overdramatic, he's a lot more insightful and sharper than he let on beforehand.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: A flashback to a conversation between Zeke and Amalthus has Zeke all but saying outright that there's a Sex Slave market for Blades, which he talks about without any of his usually gusto or intensity, with an uncharacteristic coldness and genuine disgust being demonstrated by him instead.
• Only One Name: Averted. One of the few characters with a known last name, the other being Mòrag.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name is "Ozychlyrus Brounev Tantal" ("Zeke" coming from "Ozychlyrus"), though he almost never uses it, preferring Zeke von Genbu.
• No Shirt, Long Jacket: He wears no shirt under his tattered longcoat.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Of the Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass variety, Zeke and his blade Pandoria (Cloud Cuckoo Landers Minder) share this role. Despite their theatrical antics they're insightful and battle experienced (as they come from a royal family).
• Really Gets Around: He's quite a flirt, and if Pandoria's comments are anything to go by, his time spent Walking the Earth featured many exciting nights with local women.
• Rebel Prince: He's actually Prince Ozychlyrus Brouney Tantal of the Kingdom of Tantal and one of its greatest swordsmen. However, in his youth, he preferred to travel the world instead of staying home and studying, given the dreary state of the kingdom at the time, and his belief that learning about and opening up to other nations was necessary to help Tantal. His behavior led to his father disowning him.
• Recurring Boss: He is fought three times. Hilariously, of all the tropes he deliberately invokes, this isn't one of them. He would have explained himself all the way back in Uraya if he wasn't interrupted; ditto Mor Ardain.
• Red Baron: Aside from his self-bestowed collection of titles, he's known as 'Thunderbolt' Zeke by others.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Not him, but his pet turtle, Turters, is extremely adorable.
• Sitcom Archnemesis: He has this dynamic with Mòrag. In several Heart-to-Hearts he makes fun of Mòrag's masculinity, and she threatens to kill him.
• Super Mode: In New Game Plus, it turns out that the Eye of Shining Justice actually is a thing, and unleashing it makes Zeke's strikes as fast as lightning.
• Super-Speed:
  • Can use Pandoria's electric powers (perhaps aided or enabled by his Blade Eater status) to give him brief boosts of incredible speed and reflex abilities, earning him the title Thunderbolt Zeke. Even the light-speed Jin is impressed by his reflexes when he manages to turn a surprise would-be fatal backstab into "just" a painful wound.
  • In New Game Plus, he can unlock "Unleash Shining Justice" to gain the ability to make his arts extremely fast for a period of time.
• Synchronization: He was nearly killed by bandits several years before the start of the game. He's only alive because Amalthus transplanted part of Pandoria's Core Crystal onto his chest, resulting in them sharing their lifeforce.
• Technician Versus Performer: The performer to Mòrag’s technician, being more concerned with his fighting style being dramatic and heroic than actually practical, though this doesn’t make him any less of a powerhouse. He simply does it because that’s how he thinks a hero should act, and he also enjoys it.
• That Came Out Wrong: In KOS-MOS's personal side quest, he meets the daughter of his cousin named Astelle for the first time, who was born shortly after he left Tantal. Still trying to wrap his head over the fact that he has a new family member and with Astelle calling him "uncle" because of complicated family relationship terminology, Zeke then requests for her to see him as a big brother, only for him to realize the hidden meaning behind those words when Astelle promptly calls him "big bro." Nia, Pandoria, and even Astelle then milk the joke for all its worth, much to Zeke's annoyance.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Inverted. It's when his personal boss theme isn't playing that he's at his most dangerous.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: He's rather proud of having a rule of killing as little as he can afford (with his giant lightning sword, yes), which he sees as a proof of his strength. When he admits that to Amalthus in a flashback, the praetor can only answer "I guess I am quite weak, then." Zeke confirms and calls him the weakest of the weak when he discovers just how far he's gone.
• The Reveal: He's a Blade Eater; part of Pandoria's Core Crystal was transplanted onto his heart by Amalthus before the events of the game in order to save his life.
• Too Many Belts: Wears six or seven of them. Directly on his skin. Knowing him, it's probably purely for style points.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Zeke favors Addam's Embercakes (a vegetable dish with a mix of spices from 500 years ago), just like the legendary Driver Addam. It's one of Theosoir's regional specialties. In the Heart-to-Heart conversation "Addam's Appetite", he sours on them a bit after Mythra reveals the legend is a sham — Addam hated spicy food.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Is by far the most playfully confrontational out of the main cast, and tends to earn the party's ire. This is balanced out by the various times the characters praise his more noble traits (Mòrag in particular liking how he never uses his title as a prince to take advantage of situations or get others in trouble).
• The Von Trope Family: His English name, von Genbu, although it's not his true name.
• Warrior Poet: Occasionally lapses into poetry when night falls.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Rex notes that at the speed Zeke was running to snatch Turters out of Pyra's hand, he could have just grabbed Pyra instead if he was really after her. It turns out later that Zeke never intended to kidnap Pyra in the first place.
• Wrestler in All of Us: One of his knuckle arts is a drop kick, and he ends level 4 Blade specials with an explosive elbow drop.

Blades

See Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Pyra & Mythra for tropes on them.

Dromarch (Byakko)

"I implore you to excuse my lady's discourtesy."

Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (Japanese), William Roberts (English)

Nia's Blade, a huge white tiger with gentlemanly airs and power over water.

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• Ancestral Weapon: He was the Blade of Nia's father when he was alive.
• Battle Butler: He acts and speaks like one, despite his status as a giant tiger.
• Birds of a Feather: Gets along splendidly with Azurda, the party's other mature father-figure.
• Exact Words: When the subject of Nia being a Gormotti comes up, Dromarch's contribution is only to state "Gormott is the land of my lady's birth." This is certainly true, however, he is referring to her awakening from a Core Crystal rather than being born the way Rex assumes he means.
• Great White Feline: Is a white tiger and is very wise.
• Making a Splash: His innate element.
• Meaningful Name: His Japanese name, "Byakko" is the same name as the white tiger of the Four Gods. His English name refers to the mythical Welsh hound.
• The Medic: He's a Healer Blade, and he possesses a full-party healing art.
• Old Retainer: He largely treats Nia as if he were her aged old butler and adopts mannerisms appropriate for the role. This in spite of the fact that he's technically younger than Nia by a fair bit.
• Panthera Awesome: He's a giant cat with tiger-like traits.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Nia.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He's a magic, Water-powered White Tiger named for an Asian God in the Japanese release, and one of his Field skills is based around Botany.
  Dromarch: Flora heals an aching soul!
• Rings of Death: His weapon form.
• Servile Snarker: Though Nia's Blade, Dromarch isn't above poking fun at her (or other characters in Rex's party) once in a while.
  Nia: (after looking at her "Wanted" poster) ...what the bloody hell is this? Don't tell me this is meant to be ME?!
  Dromarch: A remarkable likeness, to say the least...
• Taking the Bullet: Takes a shot for Nia while confronting Torna in Uraya. Fortunately, he's fine afterwards.
• Team Dad: Dromarch, another wise and rational voice, sometimes playing Those Two Guys with Azurda. As her blade, his loyalty is greatest to Nia before the rest of the cast.
• Younger Than They Look: While often true in general for a individual Blade's incarnation as they look the same regardless of how long they've been awakened, this gets played up specifically with Dromarch in a early Heart-to-Heart where one option is to have Rex remark that he wagers Dromarch is more knowledgeable than him (due to Dromarch's calm, wise personality and interest in gathering knowledge). Dromarch is flattered but proceeds to remind everyone that technically he has "lived" for less time than Nia, and we later find this means his current incarnation is only 10 years old or so at most.

Poppi (Hana)

^{Click here to see Poppi QT}

^{Click here to see Poppi QTπ}

"Anyway, my name Poppi. Poppi try hard to make Masterpon proud!"

Voiced by: Misaki Kuno (Japanese), Arina Ii (English)

Tora's artificial Blade. A curious, super-tough Robot Girl. Though she starts with Earth-based powers, Poppi's element and role can be customized freely — as long as the right parts are available. Poppi α, the child-like alpha prototype, is her "default" and most-used form, but she can obtain additional upgraded forms that represent her growing up. For info as the Supercomputer in Agnus Castle, see here.

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• A-Cup Angst: Before Poppi gets her bustier upgrades, as a Funny Background Event when Nia remarks to Mythra "n-nice bod you got there", Poppi looks down at her own "bod" with a look of disappointment.
• An Ice Person: Poppi QTπ's initial element.
• Artificial Human: Artificial Blade. Tora lacks the natural potential to be a Driver, so instead he built Poppi in order to realize his dream.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Poppi is, quite literally, only a few days old, and it's reflected in her mannerisms and mentality.
• Badass Adorable: She's a cute little Robot Girl who serves as the party's initial Stone Wall. It's even reflected in the Punny Names of her enhanced forms, which are nonetheless progressively more mature-looking.
• Badass Boast: "Alpha by name. Alpha by nature."
• Badass Cape: Wears a red one in her base form.
• Bishōnen Line: As she "evolves", she becomes more humanlike and more beautiful, going from a blocky robot with a humanlike face, to a slightly cuter and more humanlike maid robot, to a sleek android that rivals Pyra/Mythra in terms of looks and design.
• Black Box: She is the result of three generations of development, from Soosoo to Tatazo to Tora. Because of this, there is much of Poppi — mainly the revolutionary ether furnace that powers her (contained within a literal black box) — that even her master doesn't fully understand.
• Breakingthe Fourth Wall: At the end of her introduction cutscene, Poppi turns directly to the viewer to talk to them.
  Poppi: Anyway, my name Poppi. Poppi try hard to make Masterpon proud.
• Brutal Honesty: Par for the course, since she was only born yesterday. She learns a little more tact as more advanced modules are installed.
• Cultural Translation: Poppi is practically rehauled in the English version of the game. She more references Western geek culture instead of the net-speak otaku culture in Native Japan, which can be seen with her forms' designations both being familiar slang in their respective country.
• Creepy Good: Poppi always means well, but she is an innocent child with a vast array of deadly weaponry.
  Nia: So tell me, what's your body made from?
  Poppi: Poppi could tell you, but then Poppi would have to kill you.
• Cute Bruiser: She's much stronger than her petite frame and cute looks would suggest. She notably shares the Superstrength field skill with the likes of Herald and Zenobia.
• Cute Machines: It's even in the names of her upgraded forms! Poppi α is an adorable little robot with the face and personality of a young girl. Poppi QT is a just-as-adorable Robot Maid, and Poppi QTπ is a beautiful feminine android who keeps many of her childish quirks.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Her initial element is earth.
• Dual Age Modes: Poppi α resembles a kid, Poppi QT a teenager. QTπ is her adult mode.
• Do-Anything Robot: Tora equipped her with all manner of bells and whistles, most of questionable utility. This is Played for Laughs; because Tora is such a recluse, he essentially programmed Poppi with any function that would obviate the need to interact with anyone else. These include a "Tail Waggle" function for cheering him up and a "Comb Protocol" for relieving bed-head. This goes as far as Poppi QTπ being equipped with a dog mode instead of Tora bothering to just get an actual dog.
• Eating Machine: Each of her forms has food as one of her favorite items or item types.^(specifics)Poppi α and QTπ both like Staple Foods, while QT prefers Veggies. Poppi α especially likes Fizz Juice, QT likes Sky-Jewel Tart, and QTπ likes Melodious Melon Parfait. The Making Love Source DLC sidequest also has her drink a potion that's normally used by the party's Drivers, not only with no side effects, but with the same intended effect as if she was fully organic. That said, when it comes to food her reactions to being given it (both verbal and her statements on the affinity chart) refer to her enjoying how the food looks or smells rather than saying she is actually eating it.
• Eccentric A.I.: She was built by Tora, so naturally, she shares a lot of the quirkiness of her Mastepon. Although she usually acts as the straight woman to Tora's craziness, there are times that show who her programmer really is, with plenty of Not So Above It All moments, like with her crazy dances while idle, or how she once picked up Tora and wouldn't put him down due to his short legs.
• Expy:
  • In-Universe, Poppi to the Aegises, as well as the Artifices: an AI/machine with the power to potentially destroy the world.
  • Character-wise, she is a throwback to Emeralda, another little girl with child-like speech patterns made of advanced robotic technology, who can transform into a more mature and powerful form. Made explicit with her Nano Orange QTπ Palette Swap, which is based on Emeralda's colors.
  • Poppi QTπ is one to KOS-MOS and T-elos: human-like androids who harnesses great power.
• Frankenstein's Monster: Awakened by harnessing a blast of lightning on a stormy night. The allusions are impossible to ignore.
• Fun with Acronyms:
  • Poppi's "QT" designation stands for "Quixotic Tutelar". "QTπ" stands for "Quantum Technochampion π".
  • In the Japanese version, "JS" stands for "Jet Spark", "JK" stands for "Justice Knight", and "JD" stands for "Judgement Day".
• Gameplay and Story Integration: As part of her final upgrade, she takes a one-day university crash course. The lesson topics end up becoming her new Field Skills (Forestry, Keen Eye and Ancient Wisdom).
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Poppi QT is treated in-universe as a Super Mode for Poppi that greatly improves her strength and other attributes. In terms of gameplay mechanics, QT is just a part of Poppi's Multiform Balance whose specifications are primairly dependent on how she is customized in Poppiswap.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: She's the third person to call out Rex on losing hope. Instead of the Megaton Punch expected, she just caresses Rex's face.
• Girlish Pigtails: Her hair is in the shape of two pigtails, which are low and small as Poppi α and higher and traditionally anime-like as Poppi QT. She loses these when she becomes Poppi QTπ, who instead has more natural-looking long hair resembling Mythra.
• Glacier Waif: She's Lin 2.0, a cute girl who acts as the party's default tank.
• Hotter and Sexier: Through her upgrades, Poppi evolves from a dorky little robot girl to a highly advanced Ms. Fanservice.
• Hulk Speak: Despite being an intelligent Do-Anything Robot, she falls into this trope for inheriting her creator's Noponic dialect, which is very fitting for the childlike Poppi α but becomes absolutely adorable when she fully evolves into QTπ.
• Infinity +1 Sword: Poppi QTπ is only available in an entirely optional sidequest which you can only unlock after doing Poppi QT's Heart to Heart and in Chapter 8 (The second last chapter of the game) and even when you do unlock her, to release her full potential is by doing either New Game Plus or doing a lot of Tiger Tiger. When you finally do however, you get the most broken Blade in the game to work with, as her DPS is much higher than any Blade, even after the Power Creep given by the DLC Blades.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Poppi is convinced that the fetish costumes that Tora provides are simply armor upgrades, and is heartbroken when Brighid reveals the truth. Poppi QTπ is also completely oblivious to how "distracting" Rex finds her new form, simply stating that it makes her feel cool.
• Jet Pack: Her feet have built-in rockets for flight. In her QT form she also has a pair of them on her back similar to her sister Lila's, and her QTπ form lacks feet rockets in exchange for stronger back propulsion jets that when in use outright look like wings made of light that enable her to perform all sorts of acrobatics in combat (when not in use they fold almost invisibly into compartments behind her shoulders). In all cases, she can only fly for a fairly short amount of time before her boosters have to recharge.
• Letting Her Hair Down: Poppi QTπ forgoes the solid metal pigtails in favor of long, natural-looking hair that hangs loose.
• Living Lie Detector: Her built-in sensors can pick up when someone's heart rate spikes, such as when Brighid denies falling for the Driver's "confession of love" during Kora's Heart-to-Heart.
• Magikarp Power: Poppi makes a pretty good tank right out of the box, but she has lackluster passives and completely lacks secondary effects on her specials. Spend enough time in "Tiger! Tiger!" and a find a few technical manuals, though, and she can excel in any role you want.
• Meaningful Name: Her original name, "Hana", means "flower" in Japanese. Her English name was Woolseyed to be a play on the poppy, a type of flower.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Poppi is the only Blade Tora can use. However, she has various customizations and upgrades that others lack.
• Meido: Wears a maid outfit in her QT form.
• Mid-Season Upgrade:
  • Gets another mode known as Poppi QT (Hana JK in the Japanese version) during the events at the artificial Blade factory.
  • She later gets a third form known as Poppi QTπ (Hana JD in the Japanese version) after completing a late-game sidequest surrounding her.
• Ms. Fanservice: Poppi QTπ runs with the fact that she's designed after an adult woman (by a lusty lineage of Nopons, no less), being very beautiful and wearing revealing clothing that shows off her curves.
• Multiform Balance: Each of Poppi's forms fills a different role in battle.
  • Poppi α starts off as a Tank type, rounding out the initial Damager, Healer, Tank dynamic with Pyra and Dromarch. Poppi α exemplifies this in that with the right kit, she can have a 47% chance to ignore damage entirely, take half damage from 47% of attacks, and still have the best defensive stats in the game for the other 6%, but she also has lackluster Arts and Specials and hits like a wet noodle in general. With the right postgame upgrades, she can reach a block rate of 93%, making her a better complement to QTπ's moveset than her QT power-up.
  • Poppi QT also focuses on tanking, but via evasion rather than defenses. However, with a Master Evasion Mod, Poppi QTπ can do everything that QT can but better, so in the end she ends up similar to Pyra, mostly being used for her Smash Art and extra elemental coverage. her one advantage she has over QTπ is that she has slightly better AOE, with a AOE driver art and all her blade arts, save the level 4 one, being AOE, which mean she has an easier time dealing with crowds.
  • A fully upgraded Poppi QTπ ends up being categorized as a Lightning Bruiser, frequently being ranked as the strongest Blade in the game. Tora's naturally high HP makes her durable even with all of her stat bonuses focused on offense, her Arts make Tora the only Driver who can do a complete Driver Combo by himself, her Overclock passive ability grants her the highest DPS in the game, and those are just a fraction of her many perks. The only Blades capable of matching Poppi QTπ are found in New Game Plus or as Downloadable Content, and even those don't match her combination of overwhelming power, reliability, and flexibility. this form's only weakness is that it somewhat lacks reliable AOE with only a short range driver art and a strong, but slow and narrow blade art having any AOE capabilities, which means she struggles slightly with crowd control.
• Nano Machines: Post-battle dialog with Elma implies that some version of these is what allows Poppi's form changing abilities. Poppi will neither confirm nor deny it.
• No-Sell:
  • Most anti-Blade tactics work by hindering a Blade's natural ether absorption; but Poppi is immune due to her built-in power source, which regularly comes in handy. She alone can break out of an Anti-Magic prison cell, and fight normally in the ether-scarce depths of the Spirit Crucible.
  • If you put on Ultimate Shield on Poppi α's maximum block rate (94%), it is likely that the majority of hits will be doing 0 damage and will class as Damage Immunity.
• One Hero, Hold the Weaksauce: As an Artificial Blade, she generates Ether from her internal ether furnace, which means that when all the other Blades are weakened by an interruption in the evironmental Ether, she can still function just fine, Most notably in the Spirit Crucible Elpys, where she is not restricted to level 1 Specials and low Affinity like the rest of the party. In general, if Mythra can't handle something, Poppi can. Which is why Pneuma takes Poppi aside to make sure she promises not to stop Pneuma's Heroic Sacrifice.
• Optional Party Member: Her QTπ form can only be obtained in an optional side quest. As a result, Poppi QTπ never appears in the main story.
• Playing with Fire: Poppi QT's initial element.
• Point Build System: Poppiswap, which allows Poppi's role, attributes, and abilities to be tweaked however the player likes. Parts for Poppiswap, as well as improving her reactor (and thus raising the points available to use) are obtained by playing "Tiger! Tiger!".
• Pointless Band-Aid: Wears something akin to one across the bridge of her nose in her base form.
• Precocious Crush: Some after-battle dialogue suggests that she has one on Godfrey of all people.
• The Promise: After Mythra goes on a philosophical tangent and says too much later in the game without realizing that she accidentally just told Poppi that it is inevitable that Poppi will destroy the world one day, Poppi forces Mythra to promise that she will kill her if it ever comes to that, since Mythra is immortal too and will always be around to stop her. Mythra starts to ask for the same, but then decides to change her request to be any one thing in the future. She ends up asking Poppi to force Rex to leave her to die when the space station explodes, though Poppi didn't know that Mythra knew that there was a small chance that the conduit might keep enough power to revive her core crystal later.
• Punny Name:
  • Her QT form makes her quite the cutie. Same goes for QTπ, in which she looks like a cutie pie.
  • Her Japanese names contain Web jargon: "JS^*Joshi Shogakusei (elementary school girl)" for her initial kid form, "JK^*Joshi Koukousei/Joshi-kousei (high school girl)" for her mid-game teenage form, and "JD^*Joshi Daigakusei (college girl)" for her late-game adult form.
• Pun With Pi: Her final form, Poppi QTπ, is a cutie-pie.
• Power Fist: Wields a pair of them in her QT form, known as Jet Gloves.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: QTπ is basically indistinguishable from a normal human aside from the grooves on her thighs and shoulders, which actually makes her more human-looking than most Blades. As well as this, emotionally speaking, she seems just as human as anyone else. During Rex's Heroic BSoD at the start of Chapter 7, she is the only one to make an emotional appeal to Rex to not give up; Nia and Brighid took the more forceful approach to try and snap him out of his funk. Additionally, she was genuinely torn up about Pneuma's request to not try and rescue her during the collapse of the World Tree.
• Robot Girl: As a machine created by Tora, she carries on the Xeno series' tradition.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Wears a red one in her QTπ form.
• Self-Destruct Mechanism: She's equipped with one, due to Soosoo believing that its the coolest way for a hero to go. Poppi soon reveals that its one of her safest functions, unnerving both Tora and Zeke.
• Servile Snarker: Poppi has no filter when it comes to Tora's various embarrassing secrets. She also won't let him get away with showing off, fibbing, or offloading his busywork on her. Tora assumes it's due to some latent programming by Tatazo and Soosoo.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: The localized version of her second form's designation is short for "Quixotic Tutelar." Likewise, her third form's designation is short for "Quantum Technochampion π".
• She Is All Grown Up: Her QT form gains a noticeable bust, while her QTπ form has her fill out in all the right places.
• Statuesque Stunner: Poppi QTπ is around the same height as Brighid who is also one of the tallest female characters. She is also a Ms. Fanservice among the other Poppi forms.
• Super Mode: Poppi QTπ, her third and final form, which is unlocked through a lategame sidequest. She's worth the wait, having some of the highest damage potential of any Blade in the game.
• Super Prototype: Subverted. Poppi is a souped-up version of the artificial Blade that Tora's family was working on, and she can fight her predecessor to a standstill even without firing on all cylinders. She actually notes out loud that she's feature-complete; Tora only labeled her α because he wanted to tweak her U.I. Even her Black Box is a finished, highly-refined version of the concept. Part of her advantage is that every other artificial Blade is powered by inferior prototypes.
• Swiss-Army Weapon: Her shield has rockets, a giant drill, and a buzzsaw built in. QT replaces it with shield tonfas that also double as bazookas and missile launchers. QTπ wields the Variable Saber, a combination BFS and BFG that mimics the Aegis itself.
• Tagalong Kid: And Robot Buddy Poppi. Her base form has a childlike innocent mindset, but also incredible power as a robot. She lives to serve Tora, but likes to help everyone else too.
• Theme Music Power-Up: When she first transforms into Poppi QT, the transformation sequence is accompanied by the boss battle theme.
• Third-Person Person: She uses Nopon speech patterns, thanks to her creators.
• Tin-Can Robot: Her original form is one with a cute girl head, inspired by 70s Super Robot looks. Her upgrades look increasingly human, with QTπ not looking out of place next to KOS-MOS herself and sound less and less robotically stoic (plus, she acquires some wicked dance moves).
• Transformation Sequence: Upon activating the QT module for the first time. (She caps it off with an adorable head tilt.) In battle, Poppi shifts modes by weaving her red cape into a form-obscuring sphere until the selected form emerges.
• Unexplained Accent: In the English dub. Despite being built and programmed by British-accented Nopon, she has a standard American accent like other Blades, which when combined with her speech pattern makes her sound like the Nopon from Xenoblade Chronicles X.
• Vocal Evolution: When she gains her QT form, her dialog gets less stilted and robotic even in her initial form from that point onwards. In QTπ form, her speech is smooth and natural-sounding, save for her Noponic dialect.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Part-and-parcel of her existence is that, unlike natural Blades, Poppi can outlive her Driver — and she won't lose her memories as they do (notwithstanding any possible damage to or corruption of her memory banks, as she notes in a Heart-to-Heart conversation with Brighid). Mythra helps counsel her with this thought.

Roc (Suzaku)

"I am Roc! Always have been, always will be!"

Voiced by: Takahiro Fujimoto (Japanese), Todd Kramer (English)

Vandham's (later Rex's) Wind-type Blade. A valiant and capable war-bird with great pride in his Driver.

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• Blow You Away: Roc's element is wind.
• Meaningful Name: "Roc" refers to a creature in Middle Eastern myth and literature, taking the form of a titanic bird. His Japanese name, Suzaku, is the Red Phoenix of the Four Gods.
• No Biological Sex: While Roc is referred to by male pronouns, concept art sketches show his underlying body to be feminine in nature, and he is considered genderless by game mechanics. Or rather the game lists his gender as the number 4.
• Out of Focus: He counts as a member of the main protagonists in the sense that awakening him is required for the story and he gets to be a part of various main story cutscenes (most with Vandham, and one upon his new incarnation being born). However, after his awakening he ceases to appear or be acknowledged at all in main story cutscenes, becoming no more relevant to the story than any of the optional Blades. The closest exception is in the fight against the Addam phantasms where Rex is wielding Roc's scythes but Roc himself is nowhere to be seen.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Roc's main use on Rex is to grant him a Smash Art to finish Driver Combos, but isn't anything to write home about outside of that. Corvin does the same, but is a fantastic Blade all-around, can be obtained earlier and be awakened by any Driver, and Rex becoming the Master Driver late in the game means Roc becomes redundant even if Corvin is bonded to a different Driver.
• The Phoenix: He is a phoenix with a Wind elemental. His Japanese name is a reference to the Red Phoenix of The Four Gods. He is also "reborn" when Rex bonds with him after Vandham's death.
• Sinister Scythe: He has a unique weapon that takes the form of handheld, dual scythes. Vandham admits he's never seen another Blade with a weapon even close to them in design. When Vandham dies, Rex acclimates to them pretty swiftly.
• Wistful Amnesia: He is often preoccupied with thoughts about his past life as Vandham's Blade, once reawakened. Rex and friends help him fill in the gaps and face forward.

Brighid (Kagutsuchi)

"Such a commotion. Just when I thought I could enjoy a little peace and quiet."

Voiced by: Shizuka Itō (Japanese), Jules De Jongh (English)

Cool and collected partner of Mòrag the Flamebringer. Renowned as the strongest Blade in Mor Ardain.

For tropes applying to Brighid in Torna ~ The Golden Country, see here.

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• Ambiguously Bi: In a Heart-to-Heart with the rare Blade Kora, Kora's Driver gets nudged into making a play love confession. Brighid winds up a little flustered no matter who it is.
• Ancestral Weapon: Along with Aegeon, her core has been passed down the Mor Ardain royal bloodline ever since well before the Aegis War. Her current incarnation is a bit of a special case, as by traditional right her Driver is supposed to be the current emperor of Mor Ardain. She was bonded to Mòrag when it was assumed Mòrag would become empress, but the surprise birth of Niall meant that didn't pan out.
• Berserk Button: Tora's tendency to objectify Poppi really gets under her skin. So much so that she roasts the hapless Nopon alive over it.
• The Comically Serious: Much like her Driver, certain Heart-to-Hearts throw Brighid into humorous situations to contrast her usual reserved personality.
• Cool Big Sis: Serves as this to Poppi. They share a number of skits which show Brighid to be rather protective of Poppi, and Poppi seems to look up to Brighid, such as by starting her own journal to preserve her memories much like Brighid does.
• Curtains Match the Window: Her eyes — when visible — are purple, like her hair.
• Dual Boss: She's fought alongside Captain Padraig in her first encounter.
• Dual Wielding: Wields two swords that she uses in her first encounter, and whenever Mòrag unleashes a Special.
• Evil Counterpart: She starts off as one to Pyra, being a powerful fire-element Blade under a faction scheming to capture her. She turns out to be a Hero Antagonist, however, and the two end up sharing a rather close affinity with each other.
• Eyes Always Shut: Her default expression. She only ever opens them thrice — once for a split second in her introduction in Torigoth, when Pyra surrenders to Torna at the end of Chapter 6, and the at the end of Chapter 10 when Azurda, now a full-grown Titan, flies the gang over Morytha and through the rift, in which there's a group shot of the entire gang being surprised.
• Fiery Stoic: Despite her status as one of, if not the, strongest Fire Blades in all of Alrest, Brighid is usually the epitome of calm grace, to the point the worst she usually gets to is Tranquil Fury. This is also reflected in her design consisting of blue and purple colors which while associated with more calm personalities, still reflect her prowess when compared to Pyra at the start of the game as blue flames burn hotter than red.
• Flaming Sword: When using her Arts, she wreathes her whip-swords in her blue flames to increase their damage.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: When Pyra gives herself up and Rex loses hope, Brighid delivers a slap to snap him out of it.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Her hair and outfit has a bit of purple intermingled with blue. Her beauty is well-known throughout Alrest, and she sometimes offers tips on her skincare routine. Her favorite item is Titan-Oil Hand Cream.
• Lady of War: Much like her Driver, Brighid carries a composed and noble air about her and is very capable in a fight, even when separated from Mòrag.
• Loss of Identity: Like all Blades, Brighid loses her memories every time she is forced back into her Core Crystal via the death of her Driver. However, she keeps a journal that retains at least some of her thoughts and experiences from each incarnation. She notes that she is luckier than most Blades, as being Mor Ardain's imperial blade means that she has retainers who are able to record and preserve her journal. Even still, she expresses doubt that she is really the same person as all of her other lifetimes, and feels relief when Jin (who knows her during the Aegis War) tells her that she hasn't changed a bit.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Her Japanese name takes after the child of Izanagi and Izanami, and God of Fire. Seeing as Kagutsuchi was male, it also counts as a Gender-Blender Name.
  • Her English name comes from the Celtic goddess of fire, the forge, etc.
• Ms. Fanservice: She has a Navel-Deep Neckline, large breasts, and a Zettai Ryouiki of a sort. She fits the trope nicely.
• Mundane Utility: On the approach to Tantal, she (along with Pyra) uses her flame powers to keep the party warm.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: It goes right down to the groin.
• Playing with Fire: Her innate element.
• Red Baron: Known as the "Jewel of Mor Ardain".
• The Rival: Sees herself as one for Pyra and Mythra, the former for being able to manipulate fire and the latter due to their history.
• Smug Super: While she usually keeps a lid on it, Brighid can be quite passionate about her status as one of the strongest Blades in Alrest. One Heart-to-Heart has her passionately defending that the only victory she had on Mythra during the Aegis War was completely legitimate despite only managing it because Mythra was still weak from an earlier fight with Haze, stating that being a Combat Pragmatist isn't "cheating".
• Statuesque Stunner: Bridgid is the tallest of the female main cast, and her power isn't the only reason why she's called the Jewel of Mor Ardain.
• Stripperiffic: Her outfit is entirely Navel-Deep Neckline with Zettai Ryouiki.
• Sweet Tooth: She's partial to dessert items, especially her Trademark Favorite Food the "Thawing Mille-Feuille".
• Technicolor Fire: Harnesses blue flames.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Has this dynamic with Mòrag, being more traditionally feminine in contrast to her more viraginous Driver. However Brighid is just as formidible in a fight, and the two share a passion for cosmetics and beautification.
• Tranquil Fury: Usually has this sort of reaction to things that upset her, barely raising her voice even when burning Tora for trying to make excuses/be defiant over some of the rather questionable functions he gave Poppi.
• Whip Sword: Her swords can extend/transform into a pair of segmented whips for certain attacks.

Pandoria (Saika)

"I go where you go. End of story."

Voiced by: Ryō Hirohashi (Japanese), Becca Stewart (English)

Zeke's Electric-type Blade. Playful and snarky, she suffers his antics with good cheer.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Zeke calls her "Pandy" for short. She in turn always calls him "My Prince".
• Ancestral Weapon: Her Core Crystal is passed from Tantal king to prince. Zeke essentially stole her on his way out of Tantal.
• The Beastmaster: While a powerful Blade on her own, Pandoria possesses a unique power even among them: she can communicate directly with Tantal's Titan, Genbu, and even give it commands.
• Bifurcated Weapon: Her weapon, the "Purple Lightning Dreamsmasher", is a formidable-looking BFS in Zeke's hands. Pandoria however removes the hilt to use as a staff rather than wielding the blade itself.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: The official artbook reveals she has a literal electric outlet on her backside that her tail plugs into. Her Core Crystal has mechanical aspects as well, namely looking much like a giant microchip fused into her organic chest. Then there's her shoulders...
• Bodyguard Crush: The Heart-to-Heart "Curse of the Zekenator" reveals that she might be nursing romantic feelings toward her Driver Zeke, but insists it's just sisterly affection.
• Butt-Monkey: She doesn't have it quite as bad as Zeke, but because she's Zeke's Blade and is usually not far from him, some of the misfortune that befalls him extends to her as well.
• Curtains Match the Window: Green eyes and green hair.
• Determinator: In a flashback, it's shown that she was willing to carry a barely-alive Zeke on her back while suffering from her own encroaching weakness due to his fading life for an indeterminate amount of time before she finally collapsed in exhaustion. Luckily for them both, her persistence paid off as she collapsed in view of Amalthus, who in an act of kindness saved both of them.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Downplayed, but her voiced line upon being placed in the party is "Please be good to me." In addition, when selected for the first option in the Beneath the Aurora DLC quest in helping Len decide the setting to propose to his girlfriend, Pandoria remarks that she wishes someone was this nice to her just once in her life.
• Deadpan Snarker: Towards Zeke.
  Nia: And anyway, Shellhead?
  Zeke: Yes? (in stark contrast to him being offended to the same insult moments ago)
  Pandoria: (facepalming) You answer to that now?
• Everyone Can See It: The party suspects Pandoria feels something more than protective instinct for Zeke, as hard as she tries to deny it. It doesn't help the fact that her Merc team name is "Team Zeke 4eva".
• Genki Girl: Each time Zeke confronts the party, she cheerfully mirrors his ridiculous posturing. She's really good at it, too — possibly because they share a lifeforce.
• The Glasses Gotta Go: Played with, in that she doesn't ditch her glasses, but rather they stop being Scary Shiny Glasses so her eyes can be seen.
• Hour of Power: With Eye of Shining Justice unleashed, Pandoria becomes the best offensive Blade in the game. However, the Super Mode can only be used once per battle and only lasts 90 seconds.
• I Am Not Pretty: She admits to Mòrag in "Pandoria's Troubles" that she feels a bit plain next to Brighid and Pyra.
• Laser Blade: Most of the Big Bang Edge's attacks have the user summoning a bolt of lightning as an extension to the blade similar to the Aegis' blade of light.
• Love Confession: Played with. Pandoria will openly admit that she loves Zeke, but plays it off as familial affection. She gets noticibly flustered if anyone tries to suggest that there's something more there.
• Magikarp Power: Pandoria is usually considered a low-tier Blade due in part to her weapon type's slow attacks. Cue New Game Plus, and Zeke unlocking a Super Mode for her where they unleash the Eye of Shining Justice, granting Pandoria an outrageous boost to her attack speed and even more power on top of that. It only lasts for about a minute, but it's more than enough to eviscerate most bosses.
• Meaningful Name: Her name in both languages carry connotations "disaster/catastrophe" ("Pandoria" referencing the tale of Pandora's box), and fittingly she tends to go along with the notoriously accident-prone Zeke.
• Mind over Matter: Can use the staff portion of her weapon to control the blade portion in her specials.
• Mistaken for Gay: One option in "Pandoria's Troubles" has Mòrag ask Pandoria if she's coming on to her. Pandoria is actually flattered by the notion.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Her shirt has a deep V-neck that exposes her bra.
• Nerd Glasses: She wears a huge set of round opaque glasses. After a flashback that explores her and Zeke's characters, they become transparent and show her eyes. Her "Mermaid-Blue" Palette Swap turns them into swirly gag glasses.
• Pointy Ears: Has long, pointed ears.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: In a flashback, she begged this of Zeke when he was dying from a bandit attack, as she didn't want to return to her crystal and forget all about him.
• Servile Snarker: As loyal as she is to Zeke, she is not above pointing out his rotten luck or terrible taste in names.
• Shock and Awe: Her element, as reflected by the light bulbs on her hat, tail, shoulders, and shoes.
• Showgirl Skirt: She wears a frilly half-skirt in tandem with short shorts.
• Synchronization: Half of her Core Crystal was implanted onto Zeke's chest to save his life. Pandoria doesn't mind her life force keeping him alive.

Aegaeon (Wadatsumi)

Voiced by: Shūichi Ikeda (Japanese), Chris Ragland (English)

Designed by: Yusuke Kozaki

Emperor Niall's Blade and bodyguard. Later passed on to Mòrag after Niall deems himself unfit to be a Driver.

For tropes applying to Aegaeon in Torna ~ The Golden Country, see here.

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• Ace Custom: Aegaeon looks much like the missing link between Common Blades and Rares, being essentially a much more ornate version of a Common. He's also one of the only story-related Blades, playable or not, whose weapon is of an existing type rather than unique.
• Ancestral Weapon: Like with Brighid he has been passed down the Mor Adain royal bloodline. Both he and Brighid were the Blades of Hugo, Niall's ancestor who fought in the Aegis war alongside Addam.
• Boring, but Practical: When it comes to evasion tanking, what is the best way to ignore all the really powerful one-hit-kill attacks from late game bosses, the superbosses, and the nopondemonium? Simply walking. Aegaeon gives a massive evasion buff whenever Mòrag walks around. Combined with his own personal evasion art, Mòrag is incredibly hard to hit with Aegaeon around.
• Failure Knight: Laments that he has become this after his failure to save the life of Emperor Niall. Luckily, thanks to Nia, Emperor Niall survives. However, the current Aegaeon has no memory of his past self and Emperor Niall prohibits Aegaeon from accessing his past records, though he hears rumors about the incident. Brigid reassures to him that Emperor Niall simply wishes that he would use his strength to protect all of Alrest, rather than just him.
• Innocently Insensitive: The late-game sidequest "Farewell, Good Friend" reveals that Aegaeon is not exactly good with children due to his rather blunt way of handling things. Brighid even tells Aegaeon that his past self was prone to making Niall cry when he was a child, making Aegaeon flustered in embarrassment by this revelation.
• Meaningful Name: His name in both the original and English translation refer directly to his power over water.
  • "Wadatsumi" is one of the names for the Japanese God of Seas, born when Izanagi was washing himself clean of Yomi's corruption.
  • "Aegaeon" is also the alternate name of Briareos, one of the Hecatoncheires in Greek myth. He was considered the embodiement of the Aegean Sea and a creator of storms.
• Nominal Importance: After Aegaeon is reverted back to his core following Niall's death and Mòrag is given his core crystal, he stops having any story presence. It's entirely optional to re-awaken him. Although one lengthy side quest does require his involvement.
• Stone Wall: Aegaeon has fantastic evasive and defensive skills, but barely any offensive presence.

Other

Azurda (Seiryu)

^{Click here to see him in his Titan form}

Voiced by: Shigeru Chiba (Japanese), Sean Barrett (English)

A fairly old Titan who raised and provided a home for Rex since the boy's childhood. Rex addresses him as "Gramps".

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• Affectionate Nickname: "Gramps", by Rex.
• Been There, Shaped History: He's old enough to have been alive during important events in the backstory and did take part in the Aegis War, and thus knows a number of important things, including a major one that he was directly asked to sit on. For another example, not only did he know Jin during the Aegis War, he knew Jin's previous incarnation. On the other hand he didn't always keep track of things, when asked about another part of history he admits he just had no interest in human affairs at that time.
• Big Damn Heroes: He saves the whole group's asses soon after Rex meets Pyra, arriving just in time to unleash fire balls of such power that the whole Monoceros shakes and tilts from the impacts, interrupting its attempt to finish off Rex and Nia. Does this again in the ending when an energy influx from Pyra/Mythra allows him to instantly regain his adult form after the party's escape pod breaks apart in the atmosphere.
• Blue Is Heroic: His English name has the word azure in it, and his Japanese name refers to a legendary blue dragon.
• Book Ends: He begins and ends the story in his giant titan form.
  • Another one in that the first Heart-to-Heart Rex has with him has the option of Rex saying he preferred his adult form. When he regains said form in the ending, he remarks "I suppose this form suits me best.".
• Breath Weapon: In his adult form he can shoot destructive fireballs from his mouth, befitting his dragon-like appearance. He does this in Chapter 1 to assault the Monoceros and rescue Rex, Pyra, and Nia.
• Combat Commentator: Azurda will call out enemy element changes during combat.
• The Gadfly: He has a habit of teasing Rex from time to time.
• Genius Loci: He's been Rex's flying bachelor pad since childhood. He's also a stage in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
• Has a Type: Gold Diggers. If a late-game sidequest is any indication. An ancient Argentum chest, requiring 11 Nopon Doubloons to unlock, is found to contain evidence of Azurda's unpaid loans. Apparently he really needed an expensive gift for his girlfriend at the time. He's appropriately abashed in the present day.
• Head Pet: When he regenerates to his larval state, he becomes small enough to ride in Rex's helmet.
• Healing Factor: According to him, he learned to stay alive by rapidly regenerating his most important body parts. The side effect is being reduced to an adorable larval stage that'll unfortunately take centuries to grow back to adult form from.
• Hypocritical Humor: In a scene where he points out Mythra's outfit when she leaves Rex's inn room, after she arrived there from Sleepwalking. Dromarch has to lampshade this to him.
  Azurda: She's certainly exposing an awful lot of skin.
  Dromarch: Pot, meet kettle.
  Azurda: Would you care to explain what that is supposed to mean, my good sir?
  Dromarch: Have you looked in a mirror recently?
• Long-Lived: He was some eight hundred years old during the events of Torna ~ the Golden Country, making him around thirteen hundred years old by the time of the main game and wise enough to keep quite a few tricks up his sleeve. That said, he is far from old enough to answer any questions about the Architect.
• Meaningful Name: His Japanese name, Seiryu, is the name of one of the Four Gods, his being the Blue Dragon. His English name references this by alluding to "azure".
• Mentor Mascot: Azurda "Gramps" who was Rex' caretaker and airship before reverting back to his larval state. He retains his wisdom as a cute Head Pet.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Subverted. He's riddled with harpoons when saving Rex from Jin and Malos, and he begins to dissolve into Ether...as part of the process of returning to his larval form, since that allows him to heal from it. He survives the whole game.
• Our Dragons Are Different: In his fully-grown form, he resembles a traditional European dragon with four legs and two wings, and the ability to breathe fire, on top of his Japanese name being Seiryu after the Azure Dragon. In his larval form, he looks more like a sugar glider and skews more towards the mammalian side of "dragon" as seen in some fantasy works.
• Parental Substitute: Rex's parents died while he was still a baby, leaving Gramps to rear him as his own.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: After a grave injury, Gramps is forced to revert to his juvenile form — an adorable sugar-glider-like Shoulder-Sized Dragon.
• Secret-Keeper: He kept secret of the true fate of Addam, Mythra's previous Driver, and the existence of the Third Aegis sword. He also didn't reveal to Rex that he knew all about Jin and his tragic past, fearful that Rex couldn't handle it.
• Shoulder-Sized Dragon: In his larval form, he's small enough to make his home inside Rex's helmet.
• Snarky Non-Human Sidekick: Can be pretty snarky at times while he's on his larval state; considering the boy he had to deal with for some years, can you blame him?
• Team Dad: Azurda, the first wise and rational voice of the story (even in his smaller form), and sometimes playing Those Two Guys with Dromarch. "Gramps" even took care of Rex ever since the boy was an infant.
• Tranquil Fury: Is decidedly not happy when he hears Pyra's plan to save everyone in the World Tree.
  Azurda: You're a real piece of work.
• Vocal Dissonance: Done on purpose. He retains his elderly voice after regenerating into his baby stage, though it's softer than before.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Hilariously Subverted. After Rex is revived, Gramps takes fatal wounds rescuing him along with Pyra and Nia. After his body seemingly Disappears into Light, he quickly reveals that he's simply regenerated into a baby version of himself. Even his initial titan form is subverted, as it returns in a Big Damn Heroes moment at the end of the story.
• Weak, but Skilled: He's much smaller than some other Titans (though it also seems Titans around his size actually make up the majority of the Titan population) and doesn't have the raw power the largest ones have. However, he's the only Titan seen that can speak human language and he can (perhaps) effectively live forever thanks to his ability to revert himself into a larval stage, while the other Titans have limited lifespans.
• You Didn't Ask: Azurda knows a lot more about Pyra than he lets on, but nobody ever has any reason to suspect him. He's forgiven for withholding one extremely important secret because it essentially had to play out without his input as a crutch.