The world of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, made up of the nations of Keves and Agnus, who are constantly at war with each other.
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Aionios In General
In General
- Clone Army: Played with. In a sense all the people of Keves and Agnus are clones of the people who existed before Aionios was formed. Soldiers who die in battle are reborn in rapidly grown bodies and set out to fight again. However, since their essence/soul is the same and merely gets moved to a new body, it's not a typical case of cloning. That is, normally it is impossible for more than one of a given person to exist at a time (splitting their essence is required for this to happen and it doesn't seem to be something that can be done on purpose) and if a person's essence is sent off during a Homecoming then they cannot be brought back.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Keves is primarily associated with black and blue, while Agnus is primarily associated with white and green. The City is associated with khaki.
- Emotion Suppression: Part of the Flame Clock's function is to eliminate their corresponding soldier's romantic and sexual instincts, forcing them to live a mostly solitary life with little to no comprehension that sexual desire even exists, much less any capacity to experience it themselves. It's only after a person's connection to the Clock is severed that they start to experience various emotions tied to their instincts, such as bashfulness about changing clothes in front of others, or falling in love with someone.
- Fantastic Rank System: All Agnian and Kevesi Colonies are ranked from lowest to highest: Dirt, Tin, Copper, Iron, Steel, Silver, and Gold. The higher a colony's rank, the better food and supplies they receive. Gold ranked colonies even get to retire from fighting. Once a Colony reaches Gold, however, they are destroyed by a Moebius to "harvest" the life force built up within the members of the Colony (the reasoning being that by achieving Gold rank the people within it have reached the max potential of their life forces and become the best possible meal for the Moebius), as was the fate of Colonies 5 and 18.
- Fog of Doom: The Black Fog is a phenomenon that precedes an Annihilation Event. The presence of Black Fog itself is not indicative of when one will occur—it could take seconds, months, or forever, but you definitely do not want to be around when it happens. Black Fog also interferes with a person's Iris.
- Forever War: Keves and Agnus are constantly locked in battle with each other. There is no indication that the war will ever end, as both nations seemed to be ultimately evenly-matched.
- Hailfire Peaks: Aionios is a literal fusion of Shulk's universe and Alrest, with historical areas combining to create new regions:
- Eagus Wilderness is a sprawling desert (possibly the remnants of Mor Ardain or Torna) with bits of the Mechonis' Fallen Arm littering the land.
- Maktha Wildwood is a fusion of Makna Forest and the Land of Morytha, giving the impression of a ruined city Reclaimed by Nature.
- The Erythia Sea is the Eryth Sea (including the ruins of Alcamoth's warp pads) with parts of the Leftherian Archepelago.
- Hopeless War: Despite fighting for before anyone alive can remember, no one nation is any closer to decisively defeating the other. The amount of losses on both sides makes it very unlikely that any soldier would accept mercy or diplomacy, even if the Flame Clocks did not require that a colony kill others or risk dying themselves. This is by Moebius' design, as the war is a way for them to maintain the status quo of Aionios as well as benefit from the bloodshed.
- Lost Common Knowledge: Because no one awake aside from some of the Moebius know that the worlds of 1 and 2 even existed, along with Colony 0 more or less destroying any evidence of the old worlds, pretty much all of their history and lore have been left forgotten, which isn't helped by the fact that Keves and Agnus have been locked in war for much longer than literally any of the combatants have been alive. One significant example is the significance of different characters reacting to things like the head-wings of the High Entia, the more mechanical bodies of the Machina, and the Core Crystals and Tron Lines of Blades with only minor curiosity. More to the point, the Flame Clocks kept the people from noticing such features as significant, as they only become curious about them after getting disconnected from the clocks. The names of certain locations are among the few bits of knowledge that remain from the previous worlds.
- Merged Reality: The world of Aionios evokes both the remnants of Bionis and Mechonis and Alrest. In the distant past, the world of Alrest and the world the remains of the Bionis ended up in collided and destroyed each other. The survivors intended to use Origin to restore the worlds, but Z, a virus born from humanity's desire for control and an unchanging world, created Aionios as well as the system that ensures that the worlds stay merged.
- Mirroring Factions: When they are not at each other's throats, characters note that Keves and Agnus share a lot in common. The main party makes a mention of the unlikeliness that both halves of the party would have a Nopon retainer. Alexandria discovered through the Collectopaedia Card system she invented that the two nations are equally balanced in resources in a way that ensures that no side ever gains an advantage. This is, again, Moebius' doing, in order to keep the war going on as long as possible.
- Moral Myopia: A number of the people on both sides of the Keves-Agnus conflict, even a few of the main characters at the beginning, suffer this to varying degrees. To sum up both their perspectives; you and your people live for only ten years, and your nation can only survive by attacking a neighbouring one and killing as many of their people as possible so you can absorb their life into your Flame Clocks. The people of the nation you're attacking decide to fight back and kill your friends and comrades? Well, then they clearly deserve getting wiped out and having their life force drained for your nation's use.
- Wandering Culture: Keves, Agnus, and the Nopon Caravans have no fixed location. The exceptions to this rule are Keves and Agnus Castle. Even the City, which appears to be a part of Swordmarch, can change location.
Keves
The home nation of Noah, Lanz, and Eunie, Keves specializes in mechanical technology. Like Agnus, it utilizes mobile fighting vehicles known as "Ferronises" in its armies, which are deployed to cover encampments of soldiers known as Colonies, which are differentiated by number.
In General
- Color Motifs: Keves soldiers wield Blades that glow blue.
- Continuity Nod:
- The emblem of the nation resembles circles-and-lines pattern from the first game. It represented divinity, and was seen on the Monado and Zanza, the Big Bad of the game.
- Classes from Keves recharge their Arts after a set number of seconds, just like Arts in 1.
- The Levnises used by Keves resemble Faced Mechon, and Metal Face's head in particular.
- Future Spandex: The combination of stretchy, form-fitting black clothing and the glowing blue power frames make Kevesi soldiers look more futuristic than the Agnians.
- The Magic Versus Technology War: Keves is presented in the game's initial trailers as representing the technology side of the war, but it's subverted in the actual game: Kevesi Levnises are actually less advanced than Agnian ones in several ways, but Agnus waste much of their technological advantage on Cool, but Inefficient designs that result in them still being roughly on par. Keves also makes use of power frames, which Agnian troops don't.
- Meaningful Name: In Hebrew, Keves (כבש) means "lamb". Much like Agnus, they're literal "lambs to the slaughter" meant to nourish the Consuls in their sick "games".
- Powered Armor: Kevesi foot soldiers wear a special type of armor called a "Power Frame" that boosts their physical strength. This is necessary since the average Agnian soldier is naturally stronger than a Kevesi.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: A group of Kevesi soldiers looking for food slaughtered the village where Chyra and a few City inhabitants were staying, causing Na'el to slaughter them in anger, which was the final catalysis for Alvis, or rather, Alpha, to possess Na'el as his vessel, taking a page from his ex-master, Zanza's, book.
- Weak, but Skilled: Implied to be this compared to Agnus. Kevesi soldiers are stated to be physically weaker than Agnians, in part due to the latter having Blade blood, and they are stated often to be behind them in technology. However, they utilise their technology in Boring, but Practical designs for their Levnises, and are also able to use it to equip their soldiers with Power Frames that allow them to match the Agnians in strength.
Keves Castle
The seat of power for the Queen of Keves.
- Dark Is Not Evil: It keeps its dark, mysterious atmosphere and music when the real Melia returns to the Castle, even having an Ascension Quest that starts there.
- Humongous Mecha: The Queen's Flame Clock-adorned throne can be used as a Mini-Mecha, as Consul C demonstrates. But when the true Queen, Melia, returns to the castle, she can transform the entire building into a Ferronis.
- Mordor: Keves Castle looks like a typical Evil Overlord palace, with its dark colors, red sky and ominous music. This persists even when the real Queen Melia returns to the castle.
The Masked Queen of Keves
- See here for the masked Queen of Keves.
The Sealed Queen of Keves (MASSIVE SPOILERS)
- See here for the true Queen of Keves, Melia Antiqua.
Crys (SPOILERS)
Crys
Voiced by: Daisuke Kishio (Japanese), Joe Pitts (English)
Noah's old mentor as an off-seer who died in the middle of battle four years before the events of the game. For more information, see Consul C's folder here.
Stefaan
A Kevesi soldier who styles himself a painter.
- Artsy Beret: He's an artist who wears a simple red beret.
- Fanboy: Of Consul K, at least initially; his sidequest revolves around Ouroboros trying to value his painting of K in the City. He becomes disillusioned with the Consuls after being freed from the Flame Clock and looks for new subjects, the first of which ends up being Fiona.
- Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: The other Kevesi soldiers give him grief for painting because it doesn't help kill the enemy faster.
- The Muse: After his previous muse, Consul K, dies and he is freed from a Flame Clock, Stefaan asks Ouroboros to find him someone new to paint. He settles on Fiona, but decides to paint Ethel once he's finished.
Gustav (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
- Evil Counterpart: To Jeremy; while Jeremy was a jerkass who non-lethally poisoned the party and eventually came around, Gustav actively plots military operations to restart the war with Agnus, including Zerg Rushing the Agnus Castle Barbican with Kevesi Levnises.
- Mirror Character: He's the Kevesi counterpart to Ragzy, as both are revolutionaries who wish to return to the Forever War and undertake acts of sabotage and terrorism to do so.
- Most Definitely Not a Villain: He pretends (very unconvincingly) to be the innocent Castle inspector before revealing his true colors.
The Four Divine Wings (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
The Four Divine Wings (Incorruptible Sitre, Mediator Adrinael, Puckish Lycconen, Overfist Balroy)
An insurgent unit of the Keves Castle Guard that takes over the Castle in a late-game sidequest. As one of the Queen's elite units, they remain loyal to the fake Queen and her "values" even after her destruction, pledging to destroy Ouroboros.- Blood Knight: Overfist Balroy doesn't even consider the various revelations made throughout the story — he simply lives for the thrill of fighting and killing.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: Each one of them is subject to Hexen's infamous torture methods once captured.
- Elite Four: There's four of them, and they claim to be the Queen's top enforcers.
- Evil Counterpart: After Puckish Lycconen brags about successfully luring Ouroboros into an ambush, Lanz compares him to Taion in a way that offends the latter.
- God Never Said That: In-universe, they extrapolate on the fake Queen's commands and values and claim that she'd approve of their actions despite her being a mere figurehead for Moebius that was recently destroyed, and the real Queen being a benevolent ruler who befriends the Ouroboros upon her rescue.
- Guide Dang It!: To unlock their sidequest, you need to complete Ashera's Ascension Quest and then the "Festival of War" sidequest that takes place in Colony 11, merely because their quest ("Fate") involves teaming up with former Guard members from Colony 11.
- Smug Snake: Puckish Lycconen lures the Ouroboros into a trap and gloats about it afterwards even though they still have the upper hand.
- Token Good Teammate: Mediator Adrinael lives up to his name; he realizes that his squad overextended themselves by taking over the castle without adequate food or resources, and instead negotiates with Branden to turn himself in and for some Fortifying Gold Soup. This turns out not to be a Wounded Gazelle Gambit, and Adrinael makes good on his word.
Colony 0
While following a Kevesi designation, Colony 0 technically doesn't work for either Keves or Angus, instead being a black ops force working directly for Moebius itself. Following the end of Segiri's Hero Quest, they move inside the now defunct Agnus Castle prison.
In General
- Artifact Collection Agency: According to Segiri, part of their job was finding and destroying pieces of what Consul F referred to as the "old world" as threats to the social order. No. 8, the one specifically tasked with doing that, notes that he didn't even know much about what he was destroying at the time and just followed F's orders. It's implied that this is the reason why Ouroboros repeatedly runs into Machine Assassin Ferrons while doing Leeanne's sidequest, as the items they find are all older than the Founder's era.
- Chekhov's Gunman: With a little bit of Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, a random Machine Assassin attacks the party during their first trip through the Maktha Wildwood, long before they become aware of Colony 0's existence.
- Child Soldier: Colony 0 soldiers are no older than third Term, or 12 years old. This is because their Ferrons draw from their life force to operate at max capacity.
- Four Is Death: No. 4 is killed quickly after his introduction when the party reaches Colony 0, when Consul F sets an example to the party in how much control he has over the colony's agents.
- Mini-Mecha: They fight using their Ferrons, a smaller type of Ferronis that can go toe-to-toe with a Colony Commander.
- Multinational Team: As a result of their status as a black ops force that is part of neither nation, the soldiers have both Agnian and Kevesi physical traits. For instance, Segiri has Machina traits (Kevesi), No. 3 has Gormotti cat ears (Agnus), No. 6 has Urayan face scales, No. 9 has High Entia wings, and No. 15 has Blade horns.
- Numerical Theme Naming: Sena helps give the other members names that are based on their number, which is invoked by Segiri so that she doesn't end up standing out amongst her fellow soldiers. For instance, No. 3 becomes Trini, No. 6 becomes Ix, and No. 9 becomes Fline.
- Renamed the Same: One of the side quests for this colony involves Sena helping Segiri to give the soldiers new names, all of which are based on their number. Some of the names are still quite close to the pronunciation of their original number. Specifically, No. 15 is renamed 'Biffteen', to which he remarks that it's essentially the same as 'fifteen'.
- You Are Number 6: The soldiers of Colony 0 are scrubbed so completely of memories that they don't even have names initially, instead being designated with a number.
Commander Segiri
- See here for Colony 0's Commander, Segiri.
No. 6
Ix
A Colony 0 soldier who oversees resource management.
- The Cynic: He's initially leery about the idea of trying to renovate the prison, feeling that it's better for them to continue to lay low since they're no longer under Moebius protection, and not wanting to trust the outside help they'd need to do so. Segiri has to pull rank to get him to go along with it at first. It makes a strong contrast with No. 10, who is far more idealistic and trusts in Ouroboros to protect them if things go wrong.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: He's not exactly crazy about Segiri's ideas of using outside help, but he's loyal enough to do his best to make it happen by introducing her and the party to Wheelideeli.
- Nerd Glasses: He wears glasses and is one of the smarter soldiers in Colony 0.
- Number Two: He's Segiri's aide, making him effectively the second-in-command below Segiri herself, and he's shown ordering the other Colony members around when Segiri isn't able to.
- Stoic Spectacles: He wears glasses and isn't very emotional.
No. 9
Fline
A Colony 0 soldier with a fiery temperament.
- Curtains Match the Window: Red hair and eyes.
- Everyone Has Standards: Upon mentioning No. 13 out of anger while arguing with No. 3, a Trauma Button for Segiri, she immediately stops and starts to apologize.
- Fiery Redhead: No. 9 is a soldier with red hair and an aggressive personality.
- Green-Eyed Monster: She's jealous towards Sena due to her bond with Segiri.
- Hidden Depths: Going through the Colony 0 sidequests reveals that she dreams of being an off-seer.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's aggressive but Mio identifies it as the result of No. 9 caring so much that it's hard for her to keep control of her emotions. No. 9 even acquired an off-seer flute at some point so that she could send off her comrades, since Colony 0 didn't have an off-seer originally.
- Mercury's Wings: As a High Entia, she has two wings growing out of her head.
- Mood-Swinger: She has trouble controlling her emotions and can switch between moods at the drop of a hat, which is why she often snaps at people if bothered enough.
- Tsundere: Eventually she warms up to Ouroboros too, but is loath to admit it and continues acting like a jerk towards them.
No. 10
Teena
A Colony 0 soldier with a more optimistic view on things.
- Beneath Notice: She infiltrates the City by pretending to be just a random child dressed in the fatigues common to early Term Kevesi soldiers.
- The Gadfly: Loves teasing her fellow Colony members.
- The Idealist: Contrasting the cynical No. 6, No. 10 views life as one massive adventure.
- Intergenerational Friendship: She, a third Termer (around 12 years old), is friends with Leeanne, an adult.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Despite her teasing nature, No. 10 comes across as one of the most emotionally mature people in the Colony, having a pretty good understanding of what makes them all tick.
Wheelideeli
A Nopon who No. 6 deals with to procure supplies, who sets up a shop inside Colony 0, and helps renovate the former prison.
- Friend in the Black Market: No. 6 describes him as a somewhat sketchy (it's implied he gets his items through less than legal means) but reliable source of supplies.
- Loan Shark: According to No. 6 he's known to do markups on supplies, and the worst-case scenario is Wheelideeli winding up owning Colony 0 due to the debt accumulated.
- Noodle Incident: No. 6 says he deserted the Nopon Caravan, which is why he's initially hiding out in Maktha Wildwood, but the circumstances remain unknown.
No. 13 (No. 2)
No. 13
The original Commander of Colony 0, who went missing prior to Segiri meeting Ouroboros.
- 13 Is Unlucky: Her designation is "No. 13", and she's Segiri's Evil Twin who wishes to continue causing violence.
- Ace Pilot: She was the absolute best pilot of Colony 0, and it shows. While the rest of the colony is fought all at once before their liberation, 13 is fought on her own, and is a vastly higher level than the others. Oh, and her Ferron is painted red, because of course it is.
- Affably Evil: Although her time in isolation has caused her to grow homicidal, she mainly sees this as a necessary means of defying Moebius' will, and she shows nothing but compassion towards Segiri, even after she learns that Segiri isn't like how she used to be.
- Arc Villain: The main antagonist of Segiri's Ascension Quest.
- Dub Name Change: A particularly bizarre thing to happen to a character who doesn't have a name, but she is No. 2 in the original Japanese. It was probably changed to invoke 13 Is Unlucky... and possibly to avoid the poop jokes.
- Evil Counterpart: On top of being Segiri's Evil Twin, their stories are direct parallels. Both of them eventually learned that they didn't actually need to follow orders to live, but where Segiri learned it through The Power of Friendship, 13 was left for dead and had to survive on her own. As a result, she grew unstable, cynical, and homicidal.
- Evil Twin: She and Segiri look so alike that it's implied that they're twins (the Kevesi and Agnians having no frame of reference for the concept), and she's an antagonist who wishes to continue causing violence.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Like Segiri, her main skin tone is much more humanlike compared to the metallic grey of other Kevesi with Machina traits, and she also sports a pair of horns.
- Polar Opposite Twins: No. 13 is loud, emotional, and sadistic, while Segiri is quiet and logical.
- Twin Telepathy: She and Segiri had a mental link before 13's initial disappearance. It's re-established after Segiri's Ascension Quest.
Colony 4
A Colony in the Eagus Wilderness. Once a prosperous Silver-ranked colony, it was demoted to Dirt after a scandal involving its Commander, Silvercoat Ethel.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Colony 4 used to be one of Keves's most powerful colonies, achieving a meteoric rise through the ranking system thanks to Ethel's leadership and her sheer power. This rise was abruptly reversed after Ethel refused to kill Cammuravi despite having him dead to rights, causing the Consuls to bust the entire colony back down to Dirt rank.
- Military Mashup Machine: Colony 4's Ferronis is unusual in that it has two different forms. Its default mode is an enormous Base on Wheels, but it can also shed most of its bulk and reconfigure itself into a Humongous Mecha that its Commander can personally pilot.
- Undying Loyalty: Despite their fall from grace and dismal living standards, they are still fiercely loyal to Ethel.
Commander Ethel
- See here for Colony 4's Commander, Ethel.
Bolearis
Bolearis
Voiced by: Masakazu Morita (Japanese), Sean Teale (English)
The lieutenant of Ethel and second in command of Colony 4.
- Anger Born of Worry: One of the few times he does raise his voice is when he voices his concern for Ethel after she unexpectedly leaves to find supplies for Colony 4. He calms himself down after seeing that Ethel is unharmed.
- Mellow Fellow: In contrast to Ethel, Bolearis is very casual and relaxed regardless of the situation and can even soften up Ethel at bit with his personality.
- Noodle Incident: When the party finds him in Chapter 4, he's horribly beaten up and on the run from Keves, leading them to believe he was attacked for his betrayal. In reality, he lost his way in the dark and fell of a cliff.
- Number Two: Acts as Ethel's trusted confidant and friend who helps with managing the Colony. He becomes the Commander after Ethel's death in Chapter 4.
- Percussive Maintenance: He somehow manages to literally kick-start the Colony 4 Ferronis when it stalls right before the assault on Origin, to the utter confusion of his engineers. Keep in mind, the main engine he kicked is maybe ten times his size.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Ethel's red, as he is much more relaxed than his Commander and doesn't have her enthusiasm for battle.
- Selective Obliviousness: If you go check on him with a reborn and re-aged Ethel as your Hero, he'll immediately assume he's hallucinating from overwork.
- You Are in Command Now: After Ethel's death, he takes over as acting Commander of Colony 4.
Jeremy
A soldier of Colony 4 with a major grudge against Agnians.
- Category Traitor: He's irritated that his friend Laslow acts friendly towards the Agnian members of Ouroboros, as he views it as a betrayal of their deceased friend. It gets to the point where he frames Laslow for poisoning them.
- Cycle of Revenge: He despises Agnians and makes it clear to Mio and Sena when they meet at the canteen. The only reason he doesn't take up Mio's offer to kill her is that he notices she's already on her tenth Term and months away from dying anyway.
- Establishing Character Moment: His first scene has him confront Sena and Mio, show them a keepsake of his friend who died in a battle against Agnus, and tell them to their face that he hates them. He even initially takes up Mio's offer to kill her with glee before noticing she's already on her last Term.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Downplayed. Jeremy isn't evil, but out of all the Kevesi soldiers the party meets, he's easily the most unpleasant, being openly hostile towards them and saying he wishes they'd go and get themselves killed while also being frustrated by how most of Colony 4 has started to accept them.
- Fantastic Racism: He possesses an intense hatred of Agnians due to one of his friends getting killed by them during the war.
- Heel Realization: It takes almost losing everything, but in the final sidequest a part of him finally comes around, at least to a degree, while bemoaning how wretched he feels about his own behavior.
- Hypocrite: He hates Agnian soldiers like Mio and Sena for killing his friend, and Ouroboros for being Kevesi and Agnian soldiers working together, but he himself was a soldier. It's very likely that he killed some Agnians who had friends and loved ones, but while others even in Colony 4 understand that and gradually warm up to the party, Jeremy is very slow to let go of his grudge.
- Jerkass:
- While his hate for Agnians is understandable, he's very unpleasant to deal with and calls the Keves members of Ouroboros traitors. In various sidequests, he openly states his disappointment to see them still alive and kicking, flat-out telling them to their faces he wished they died.
- One sidequest in particular really shows how much of a jerk he can be. He poisons Ouroboros, frames his friend Laslow because he was friends with them, and when he notices the party is onto him, he assaults his teammate just to create a distraction. To top it all off, even after Ouroboros save him from a group of monsters, he acts hostile to them, continues to berate Laslow, and tries to take up Mio's offer for him to kill her once again only to back out once more (albeit out of grief for his own behavior).
- Karma Houdini: Even after he steals medicinal supplies, poisons Ouroboros, frames Laslow, and assaults his teammate, he receives no punishment for all of the atrocities he's committed. It's downplayed in that all of Colony 4 becomes frustrated with him, and Laslow hints that he may be receiving some kind of punishment, but such a punishment never occurs for the rest of the story.
- Not Worth Killing: Despite his hatred of Agnians, he chooses not to kill Mio after she offers her life as atonement. He notices that she's on her last Term and decides that killing her wouldn't be satisfying.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He's a minor character save for his involvement in some sidequests, but he serves to show how even with the Flame Clocks destroyed, removing the need for Agnians and Kevesi to kill one another for their life force, not everyone in Keves and Agnus will be willing to let bygones by bygones and choose peace due to the losses both have suffered over the course of the Forever War.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: In one sidequest, Jeremy poisons Ouroboros by spiking their food with a drug that becomes harmful at high dosages. The party makes it out okay thanks to immediately receiving medical attention.
- Tragic Keepsake: A friend of his was killed during a battle with Colony Psi and he keeps a tattered keepsake of theirs as a memento and reminder of what he lost.
Dorin & Bambam
- Dangerous Deserter: Subverted. After Colony 4's Flame Clock is destroyed Dorin and Bambam embrace their newfound freedom by stealing a Levnis and heading out to explore the world. Dinzel, their superior officer, is dismayed by this, but quickly concludes that they aren't a threat and asks the party to look out for them once it becomes clear they aren't coming back.
- Lazy Bum: Both of them are known for slacking off on their work during their time in Colony 4. This turns out to be justified in Bambam's case, as he has a weak constitution that causes him to become ill easily if he overworks.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Every time the party comes across them, Dorin and Bambam are having a fallout over something. Once the problem is resolved, they declare themselves best friends again.
- Walking the Earth: What their whole questline essentially entails. The party winds up encountering them in nearly every major area in the game and assisting them in their travels.
Colony 9
A Tin-ranked Colony in the Yzana Plains, and the current station of the Keves half of Ouroboros. At the start of the game, it recently won a battle against Colony Sigma.
- Call to Agriculture: Under Zeon's leadership, the Colony starts focusing on agriculture after being liberated from the Flame Clock.
- Mythology Gag: Shares the same name with the colony of Shulk, Fiora, Reyn, and Dunban in Xenoblade Chronicles 1, and both colonies are the homes of the first party members you get.
- Trademark Favorite Food: After the Colony succeeds in growing potatoes, everyone in Colony 9 becomes obsessed with them.
Commander Zeon
- See here for Colony 9's Commander, Zeon.
Noah, Eunie, & Lanz
- See here for Colony 9's Special Unit members, Noah, Eunie, and Lanz.
Riku
- See here for Colony 9's gemsmith, Riku.
Mwamba (Mumba)
Mwamba
Voiced by: Yūichi Iguchi (Japanese), Jason Forbes (English)
Class: Sharpshooter
Role: Attacker
"I was thinking, after this op, I think I'm gonna go and put in a transfer to the salvage corps. You never know what'll happen on the battlefield, right?"
A veteran soldier from Keves who fights alongside Noah's team at the beginning of the game.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: He has two-toned gray skin similar to Lanz, suggesting possible Machina ancestry.
- Black Dude Dies First: He has an African name and ethnic features, is voiced by a Black voice actor in the English dub, and is the first named character to die. Although, it doesn't last, since he returns at the hands of Consul Y.
- Came Back Wrong: He's amongst the soldiers revived by Y as slaves under his control at Colony Omega. While he regains control over himself, he doesn't get his memories back, though the party considers it a good thing that he at least doesn't have to remember the horrific way he died in his previous life.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: D crushes the life out of him and Hackt in front of the party.
- Crutch Character: He's a Guest-Star Party Member that's mainly around to provide a little extra firepower for the Keves protagonists for the first half of the first chapter, where players would be trying to figure out the hoops of the game's combat system before the two protagonist teams get together. His skills and Arts are very basic, so the player doesn't miss out on much gameplay-wise when he leaves the party.
- Foil: To Hackt. Whereas Hackt was a Red Shirt who had almost no development before D killed him, Mwamba is a Mauve Shirt who gets some strong character development before he's killed by D.
- Friendly Sniper: As a Sharpshooter, he serves as a ranged attacker while being supportive of the Keves protagonists.
- Guest-Star Party Member: He's the first Hero you get in the game, but he only stays with the party until part-way through the first chapter. Per Gameplay and Story Integration, that's because he doesn't have much time left. While he comes back to life as a new incarnation and is freed from Y's control, he doesn't rejoin the party and instead becomes a prominent NPC in City-related sidequests.
- Irony:
- Mwamba and Hackt — the soldiers D killed in the first chapter that compelled the Keves and Agnus teams, respectively — become good friends after both of them are reborn.
- He has a skill called "I'll Survive", yet he kicks the bucket pretty early on in the story.
- Interface Spoiler: Most players will likely guess he won't survive long when they notice they can't change his equipment.
- Mauve Shirt: Gets a decent amount of characterization before biting it near the end of the first chapter. He reappears later on as a new incarnation, but gets most of his characterization from sidequests.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: He is an Old Soldier who gives Noah's team some advice and gives some of the tutorials in the first chapter. He is also killed by the end of said chapter.
- Moveset Clone: His unique (and unplayable) Sharpshooter class is essentially Valdi's War Medic class geared towards being an attacker instead of a healer.
- Mukokuseki: Notably averts this, having a name derived from Kikongo, being depicted with visible African-looking features in contrast to other Machina characters who tend to look more ethnically ambiguous, and having a Black voice actor in the English dub.
- Nice Guy: He's considered Colony 9's pride and joy for a reason, as he always accepts compliments and constantly commends his comrades for their core values.
- Old Soldier: He's actually almost 20 years old, but since this is Aionios, "old" is a relative term. That said, he's one of the most experienced soldiers in Colony 9 and is one month away from the end of his lifespan.
- Required Party Member: On New Game Plus, you cannot substitute Heroes into your party during his tenure on your team.
- Retirony: With one month left before his homecoming, he decided he'd enlist on the salvaging team after one more mission fighting. He ends up being murdered by D during said final mission.
- Sacrificial Lamb: His murder along with Hackt's, an Agnian soldier who seemingly had a similar relationship to Mio's team, at the hands of D is one of the first things that prompts the two protagonist trios to put their differences aside and realize the true enemy in Moebius.
- Walking the Earth: Hackt states that after the fighting is over, he and Mwamba plan to travel around all of Aionios and visit as many Colonies as they can.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He's a soon-to-be-retiring Kevesi soldier and supportive friend of Noah's team, even serving as a Guest-Star Party Member. He is killed by D along with Hackt, an Agnus soldier that apparently served a similar role to Mio's team during the first chapter. However, both he and Hackt reappear later as new incarnations, and relocate to the City after Ouroboros frees them from Y's mind control.
- Your Days Are Numbered: He's on his last Term at the beginning of the game, having only one month left before his homecoming.
Kite
Kite
A friend of Garvel's from Noah and friends' childhood. He is stationed at Colony 9 and, following the group being branded as traitors, he became Zeon's Number Two after the latter is named the new Commander of the Colony.
- Black Magician Girl: A flashback shows that he was a Gender Flipped example when he was younger. He wielded a staff, used offensive ranged spells, and was one of the more aggressive attackers in his team.
- Crush Filter: When looking at Juniper, he perceives them atop a black background with sparkles surrounding their face.
- Hidden Depths: He's introduced as being a former member of Garvel's team (who were antagonistic bullies toward Noah's team during training), and in his position as Lieutenant of Colony 9 he remains antagonistic and is frequently causing issues. However, it's later revealed that, while he is ambitious, he also cares deeply about the people of the Colony, and his heated disagreements with Zeon are mostly a product of him feeling that Zeon isn't protecting them adequately. It's also shown that he's extremely popular with the rank-and-file of Colony 9, and is actually a decent leader when he isn't being hotheaded. In the end, he and Zeon manage to make peace with each other after Zeon tries interacting with him more like an equal and not as just a commander and subordinate.
- Ship Tease: He has a blatant crush on Juniper in Zeon's Ascension Quest despite them being Agnian, perceiving them with sparkles and not understanding why he's suddenly getting pains in his chest looking at them.
- Sole Survivor: Appears in the Keves trio's childhood flashbacks as part of Garvel's squad, but is noticeably the only member of their team to be seen in the present until Lanz's Ascension Quest, which reveals that Garvel and the rest of his squad sans Kite had recently been killed in the destruction of Colony 8 by Consul H.
- The Starscream: A lighter version than most. Kite makes his disagreements with Zeon's leadership quite vocal and even outright states at the end of Zeon's Hero Quest that he will become the new Commander. Zeon isn't really bothered about this like others in his position would since they're both worried about the Colony and would gladly step down if the colony's people wished him to do so; on top of that, Zeon earns Kite's respect by the end of his Ascension Quest while Zeon himself learns how to treat him as a comrade rather than as a subordinate.
- We ARE Struggling Together: He and Zeon butt heads amid Colony 9's supply shortage. While Zeon has been living up to his new post after his Hero Quest is completed, Kite still takes issues with decisions, such as Robbing the Dead from Everblight Fields and prefers the more by-the-book approach, even though such plans are much harder to execute now that Colony 9 is cut off from the Castle. By the end of Zeon's Ascension Quest, he comes to trust in Zeon's methods.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: After meeting Juniper for the first time, he doesn't understand why he's suddenly nervous or the feeling he's getting in his chest while looking at them.
Colony 11
A Silver-rank Colony situated near Keves Castle, home to the most battle-hungry soldiers in Keves.
- Blood Knight: Colony 11 is where the most violent and battle-loving soldiers go. They not only fight those they want to (basically anyone they consider a worthy challenge) who come near, but they fight themselves just as often.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: It's mentioned that some of the residents in Colony 11 used to be from other Keves Colonies until they were sent to Colony 11 for problems with their behavior. Some of them were for something as minor as talking back against a superior.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Most of the soldiers in Colony 11 are unpleasant at best and violent at worst. Even the Affinity Chart mentions the Colony is known for its soldiers having behavioral issues.
Commander Ashera
- See here for Colony 11's Commander, Ashera.
The Three Ravens
The Three Ravens (Clad, Easel, and Zoren) are Colony 11's three most powerful soldiers next to Ashera herself. Securing their loyalty is necessary for the party to officially gain control over the Colony, even after Ashera is recruited.
- Blood Knight: All three have a lust for battle, although each expresses it in a different way. Clad is a Combat Sadomasochist, Easel is an Egomaniac Hunter, and Zoren is somewhat of a Social Darwinist.
- Feel No Pain: Clad's sense of pain is duller than normal. The fact that the party can actually make him experience some pain is what earns them his respect as before them only Ashera had accomplished this.
- Great White Hunter: Easel is an accomplished hunter and tracker who regularly ventures into the wild to hunt down ferocious monsters.
- Hidden Depths: Ashera claims at least that Clad is actually the "shy and sensitive type." The party isn't sure if they can believe her.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Easel describes her desire to best Ashera as if she were a dangerous beast to hunt.
- The Magnificent: The Ravens' strength and ferocity has earned each of them a nickname. In order, they are Tenacious Clad, Fellplume Easel, and Spearhead Zoren.
- Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: When appealing to the cause of peace (and how they no longer need nor are able to take life energy from other colonies) doesn't dissuade Zoren from going ahead with a planned attack on Colony Lambda, Eunie uses this accusation to ultimately motivate him to instead protect Lambda from another Keves colony trying to take advantage of Lambda's weakened state to wipe them out. Namely, it would be cowardice to kick Lambda when they're down, something Zoren begrudgingly admits.
- Sense Freak: Clad fights as a Defender in the hope that getting attacked will make him feel something. He develops a liking to the party when they actually make him feel pain.
- Training from Hell: Clad regularly subjects himself to this. His regimen includes fighting Levnises on foot.
- The Voiceless: Clad normally doesn't say a word, but his subordinates are able to understand him just fine. Much to Eunie and Sena's shock though, he actually does speak when he and the other two Ravens fight Ouroboros at the end of the quest line, praising Ouroboros and Ashera for actually making him feel pain for once.
Colony 13
A Colony that Colony Lambda fought against a few years before the start of the game.- Curb-Stomp Battle: They managed to wipe out most of Lambda's unit while suffering little casualties on their end. Some time after, they were on the receiving end of a curb-stomp from Lambda.
- Not Quite Dead: The Colony had been destroyed by Lambda, but some soldiers were transferred to another colony. They show up in a sidequest, and they haven't let go of their grudge.
- Smoke Out: They were able to wipe out Lambda's unit by using smoke to obscure their movements.
Colony 14
A Colony that was attacked and destroyed by Agnus years before the events of the game. The original colony of Noah, Eunie, Lanz, and Riku.- Doomed Hometown: For the Keves trio and Riku. It was their original Colony before being destroyed by Agnus, forcing them to migrate to Colony 9.
Joran (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Joran
Voiced by: Kanon Amane (Japanese), Gerran Howell (English)
A childhood friend of Noah, Lanz and Eunie when they lived in Colony 14. He died six years before the events of the game, but ended up being revived as a Moebius. For tropes pertaining to the subsequent Consul/Moebius J, see here.
- Back from the Dead: He's brought back with Noah, Lanz, and Eunie at the end of the game.
- Chekhov's Hobby: Joran had a taste for making model puppets, carving them out of wood and clay with a small knife Blade.
- Go Out with a Smile: He smiled at Lanz when he saved him before dying, as he finally felt he was useful.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He pushed Lanz away from falling debris and saved him at the cost of his life.
- The Load: He was the weakest of his friends, a fact that bothered him deeply.
- Posthumous Character: He's been dead for six Terms by the time of the game and so only appears in flashbacks.
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to discuss him in full without bringing up the fact that he comes Back from the Dead as Consul J, an antagonist.
- White Mage: He uses a staff as his Blade and was the designated healer among his friends before Eunie took on the Healer role. However, he was not great on offense, which made him a prime target for Garvel's team during a battle trial.
Garvel, Layla, & Hoope
Garvel, Layla, & Hoope
Garvel (centre), Layla (right), and Hoope (left)
Three Kevesi soldiers that formed a four-man squad with Kite that antagonized Noah and his friends in their early Terms in flashbacks.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: All members show degrees of this, Garvel in particular as he has shown to be incredibly skilled with his Blade and doesn't hesitate to show off how great he thinks he is. It gets to the point that he initiates an attack on Noah after mocking his supposed inability to draw his Blade and gets royally ticked off when Noah easily gets the upper hand at first. His skills in battle are the reason that Consul H chose him to lead a team of newly reborn soldiers of Colony 8 after he, Layla, and Hoope were reborn.
- Back from the Dead: Despite having been in the same Term as Noah and the others growing up, they are seen again as early Termers later in the game in Lanz's Ascension Quest due to having been killed and reborn as part of Consul H's experiment of creating elite soldiers from the cradle.
- The Bully: They antagonized Noah and his friends both in and outside of the Trial with Garvel being the aggressor, mocking Noah for still using a training sword and Joran for his weaknesses.
- Enfant Terrible: When Consul H brings them back to life, they're still in their second Terms, making them one of the only opponents still fought as children.
- Flunky Boss: They are aided by two Equites during Lanz's Ascension Quest.
- Foreshadowing: After a confrontation with Garvel's gang, Lanz remarks that guys like him are the first to snuff it in battle. However, while Garvel and his squad were shown to have beaten Noah and his friends in the mock battle trials, we later learn that after plenty of chapters in with no mention of them in the present, following Colony 14's destruction they were sent to Colony 8, which was said to have been wiped out a few Terms later by H before the main story begins.
- Shoot the Medic First: Invoked. During the practice match flashback, Garvel orders part of his team to focus fire onto Joran, who is implied to be the only Healer between himself, Noah, Eunie, and Lanz. Layla's reaction even implies this is a basic strategy that is taught to all First-termers in Aionios.Garvel: Just draw their attention. 'Cause what we're after here...is that lame duck.Hoope: Joran? But he's bottom of the class. Why bother?Garvel: Thing is, the brat's still a decent Healer. Get it?Layla: Ahh, right. So we're playing by the book here.Garvel: Pisses me off, but the fight'll be good as won!
- Small Name, Big Ego: Garvel certainly seems to think so, as when he's brought back to life, since he has no memories of his days in Colony 14, when Lanz recognizes him and calls him by name, Garvel thinks he's somehow built a reputation for himself around Aionios.
- The Social Darwinist: They had shades of this back before being reborn, but after being brought back to serve under Consul H, they fully subscribe to the ideal, Garvel especially. Even to the point where Garvel asks the party to kill Layla and Hoope so he could take their life for himself on the argument that the weak don't deserve to live.
- Took a Level in Kindness: After being saved from Consul H, the trio is sent from Colony 4 to Colony 9, which is not only the Kevesi Ouroboros' current home colony, but where the trio goes from being soldiers to potato farmers under the direction of leaders that used to be childhood friends with their previous incarnations. It takes time along the story, but they all find themselves much happier farming potatoes instead of fighting all the time, especially with Garvel, who states that he now looks up to Kite as a role model in leadership. It's a bit ironic, considering early flashbacks showed a young Kite used to follow his lead, such as during the Trial.
- Wrecked Weapon: In a flashback of Noah explaining his sword to Mio, Garvel aggressively attacks and destroys Noah's training sword in a fit of arrogance.
Colony 15
- Foil: To Colony Mu; both are colonies located in the Erythian Sea whose Hero Quests can be started immediately. While Colony Mu has a Consul who masquerades as a friend, Colony 15 has a friendly Consul.
- Family of Choice: Completing their quests after they've been liberated and gone to the City and learned about other ways of life results in the members of the colony coming to the realization that they love each other as family.
- Friendly Pirate: All of the colony's inhabitants dress up and act like a friendly, jolly pirate crew.
- The Migration: The quest chain for this Colony revolves around them migrating to the City, and the problems that arise because of it.
Commander Triton
- See here for Colony 15's Commander and Consul, Triton.
Colony 30
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Colony 30 is full of Nopon, but they take more breaks than their counterparts in other Colonies. However, they are able to build Dorrick under Valdi and Dinkidinki's supervision.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Most of Colony 30 are obsessed with robots, with Commander Valdi being merely the most pronounced example. The Colony also has many more Nopon than usual, which compounds things. Nevertheless, their combined expertise and ability to deploy huge numbers of heavily armed Humongous Mecha in battle makes them a force to be reckoned with.
- The Cavalry: They are the first Colony to reinforce Ouroboros and the Lost Numbers and open fire on Origin with their massive legion of Levnises. While most of their forces were wiped out, they bought enough time for the other Colonies to arrive.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Colony 30 is revealed to have dealt a particularly crushing defeat to Colony Iota shortly before the start of the game. Despite Alexandria's tactical brilliance and superior resources, it is implied that Colony 30's eccentricities made them impossible to predict and allowed their powerful Levnises to run roughshod over Iota's forces.
- The Engineer: Colony 30 is the place where the best Kevesi engineers are at. They focus exclusively on building and repairing Levnises. A good chunk of their sidequests involve helping them build Dorrick, a Humongous Mecha rivaling a Ferronis.
Commander Valdi
- See here for Colony 30's Commander, Valdi.
Pulipuli (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Pulipuli
A young Nopon who has something of a penchant for building Levnises, and has a massive crush on Alexandria.
- Adorably Precocious Child: Adorable might be a stretch, but he's 17 years old and also has talent in the way of machinery.
- Composite Character: He combines elements from both Chairman Bana and Muimui from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. He has Muimui's glasses and self-esteem issues, while he takes Bana's backstabbing nature, usage of Humongous Mechas, and punishment of being forced to run on a giant hamster wheel.
- Face–Heel Turn: He's mostly a side character who's affiliated with Colony 30, until he turns on Colony 30 by hijacking Mechafriend and Dorrick because he feels as though his contributions have gone unnoticed.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: His Freudian Excuse for hijacking Mechafriend and sending Dorrick on a rampage is that he felt as though no one appreciated his work as a mechanic, and he felt like an outcast as a result. It takes a pep talk from Valdi for him to realize that people do care about him.
- Precocious Crush: Aside from his self-esteem issues, his defining personality trait is his obsessive love for Alexandria. He always wants an excuse to visit Colony Iota, and refuses to leave until he sees Alexandria.
- Yandere: Initially, his love for Alexandria seems obsessive but ultimately harmless. However, when he makes Dorrick his vessel, he declares that he's going to kill Ouroboros and everyone in Colony 30 because, according to him, only he can be friends with Alexandria.
Agnus
The home nation of Mio, Sena, and Taion, Agnus specializes in using Ether in its technology and military. Like Keves, its military employs mobile weapons called "Ferronises", which are typically home to groups of soldiers called Colonies, which are differentiated by letters of the Greek alphabet.
In General
- Ambiguously Human: Some characters from Agnus are shown to have blue ether lines on their bodies (a hallmark of Blade biology), horns, and other unusual features. They're implied to be Blades, given that most of them have what appear to be glowing Core Crystals on their chests (and those that don't may simply have their clothing covering them). Others are clearly Urayans, Gormotti, or Indoline, i.e. the various other types of human in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Even those who look like any race other than a Blade may have a Core Crystal on some part of their body, but have no ether lines, which implies they are Blade Eaters. Yet, like all the Kevesi people, all the Agnus ones mature at the same rate now and have the same lifespan, even beings that previously didn't physically change at all in a given life like Blades.
- Color Motifs: Agnus soldiers wield Blades that glow green.
- Cool, but Inefficient: Agnus actually has better Levnis technology than Keves does, but wastes much of their advantage on aesthetic choices such as making the individual components float.
- Continuity Nod:
- The emblem of the nation resembles a stylized Core Crystal from Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
- Characters from Agnus recharge their Arts after performing a certain number of auto-attacks, with a bonus for cancelling their auto-attacks into their Arts, just like characters did in 2.
- Agnus machines use energy blades and angelic motifs, much like the Artifices did.
- Their more formal white, black, and red clothing brings to mind the kingdom of Torna.
- Light Is Not Good: They have large mechs that are capable of light-based attacks which the Queen of Agnus uses her throne as a mech during her boss fight, but they're just as grey in morality as Keves.
- The Magic Versus Technology War: In the game's initial trailer, Agnus represented the magic side of the war, massively relying on ether. In practice it's subverted: the nation uses Magitek instead of pure magic, and their technology is superior to that of Keves in several ways, brought down to being evenly matched by their focus on aesthetics.
- Meaningful Name: In Latin, Agnus means "lamb". Like Keves, they're literal "lambs to the slaughter" and no more than nourishment for the Consuls in their sick "games".
- Muscles Are Meaningless: The most petite Agnian is stronger than the average Kevesi, to the extent that Keves developed power frames just to keep up with them in the strength department.
- Pun: The term to refer to something that involves Agnus such as an attack from them is "Agnian
." Agnus is led by the Queen of Agnus who has a resemblance to Nia, who is the true Agnian Queen. - Unskilled, but Strong: Implied to be this compared to Keves. Agnian soldiers are said to be physically stronger, in part due to having Blade blood, and they are more technologically advanced, being able to equip their Levnises with levitation technology. However, they squander their technological advantage on more Awesome, but Impractical designs for their Levnises' and otherwise make no attempts at using their technology to further empower their soldiers.
Agnus Castle
- Humongous Mecha: The Queen can transform her Flame Clock-adorned throne into a Mini-Mecha, but when Nia, the true Queen, returns to the Castle, she can combine it with the Cloudkeep and transform the whole thing into a Ferronis.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Castle's restoration forces are led by a pottymouthed Bratty Half-Pint and includes a diverse selection of Agnian soldiers, Lost Numbers, Nopon, and even Tirkins.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Like with Keves Castle, Moebius fitted it with an Annihilator. Nia uses it against them in the fight against Z.
The Masked Queen of Agnus
- See here for the masked Queen of Agnus.
The Sleeping Queen of Agnus (MASSIVE SPOILERS)
- See here for the true Queen of Agnus, Nia.
The Supercomputer (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Poppi α (Hana JS)
The supercomputer of the Cloudkeep, in reality an Artificial Blade constructed by the Nopon inventor Tora, and a friend of Nia's. For more info on her, go here.
- The Ageless: Justified, since she's a robot. Like with Nia, she's been around since before Aionios was even formed.
- Canon Character All Along: The supercomputer that Nia used to receive and view data of the outside world during her slumber in the Cloudkeep was Poppi the entire time, or was at least being operated by her.
- Dramatic Irony: If the player visits the Cloudkeep with Nia in the party, she'll call out "I'm home", followed by Mio wondering to herself who Nia was talking to. Given that the player will have had to watch the ending to get Nia as a Hero in the first place (unless they skipped cutscenes), the player will know that she's talking to Poppi, but the Ouroboros don't.
- Foil: To the fake Queen of Keves, moreso than the fake Queen of Agnus, given that both robots were used to observe the outside world and inform their respective Queens of events.note Melia's robot duplicate was evil, soulless, mostly acted against the real Melia's will, acted as the public "face" of Keves, served Moebius, and looked human except for not having a proper face under her mask. Poppi is heroic, highly empathetic, acts in cooperation with Nia against Moebius, is being kept secret even from the Ouroboros, and is a Tin-Can Robot with a humanlike face. This also corresponds to how each of the Queens went into hiding; Nia voluntarily sealed herself away and was able to have a friend help her observe the world, while Melia was captured by Moebius against her will and had to resort to hijacking their puppet to do so.
- Master Computer: Served this function while Nia was asleep, acting as a supercomputer that informed Nia of what was occurring in the world outside the Cloudkeep. Given that Tora built her and is also very heavily implied to have helped build Origin, she was able to perform her function excellently.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Unlike the false Queens and despite her Tin-Can Robot body, she has a fully expressive face and is highly empathetic.
- Robot Buddy: Now serves this role towards Nia, rather than to her Driver from the previous game, Tora.
Seeker
Seeker
A suspicious figure leading the efforts to restore Agnus Castle and work with the Lost Numbers.
- Expy: Appearance wise, he's a dead ringer for Adenine from 2, and shares her name in Japanese (Shiki). Later in a quest he even gains an appreciation for books and intellectual interests. Given that Blades are established as now being capable of having children, and that children of Blades tend to closely resemble their Blade parent, it's possible that he is her descendant.
- Good All Along: Despite the group's initial misgivings, he was doing the right thing all along and genuine in his efforts to help.
The Three Fiends
The Three Fiends (Tohma, Jhodor and Xera)
Three Agnian prisoners in the Castle accused of horrible crimes against their colonies.
- Good All Along: Like Seeker, they only had good intentions all along and were only working against their Consul, who fabricated the accusations against them in the first place.
Tirkin Family
Jumbo Tirkin, Mini Tirkin and Micro Tirkin
A family of Tirkins that appear during Ghondor's Ascension Quest, consisting of a very large father Tirkin and his two "Tirklets". After their father passes on, the two Tirklets work with the Lost Numbers and Agnians at Agnus Castle.
- Animation Bump: When Jumbo Tirkin talks in cutscenes, his beak movements are synced to his dialogue in both English and Japanese, which is notable because Tirkin in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 had no mouth movements at all despite having spoken dialogue.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss: The Jumbo Tirkin is set up as the antagonist of Ghondor's Ascension Quest, but then it turns out he's just defending himself and his children. The real antagonists are the soldiers out for his head.
- Bird People: They are members of a humanoid, sapient (albeit primitive) birdlike race.
- Funetik Aksent: All three of them retain the usual Tirkin Verbal Tics of You No Take Candle, misspelling/shortening words, replacing the hard "c" sound with "k", and inserting "kraa" into their dialogue. Jumbo Tirkin is also voiced with a thick Cockney accent, like others of his species.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Jumbo Tirkin suffers fatal wounds after helping the party fight off invading soldiers.
- Last Request: In his final moments, the Jumbo Tirkin entrusts his kids to Ghondor.Jumbo Tirkin: If dere is place dat safe and have no figh'ing... I want you take my...Tirklets dere so safe and tight...
- Leet Lingo: Their Tirkin dialect now includes words from contemporary Internet slang such as "smol" and "hooman".
- Nice Guy: Despite the party's and soldiers' initial misgivings, Jumbo Tirkin is gentle and pacifistic even in the face of Ghondor's roughness. His Tirklets are equally docile.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Jumbo Tirkin attacks Kevesi and Agnian soldiers, but only because they attack him first.
- You No Take Candle: Just like Nopon, their grammar is highly simplified but is also combined with other quirks.
Ragzy
Ragzy
The leader of an insurgent group of Agnian soldiers who dislike the new regime and want to return to hostilities with Keves. He also reveres the Consuls.
- Boss Battle: He is fought in a Levnis during a series of sidequests.
- Hate Sink: Ragzy has no real redeeming qualities, with the only justification for his horrible actions being his difficulty in adjusting to change (namely, from constant war to newfound peace).
- Jerkass: He loses his sense of direction after Agnus Castle is freed from its Flame Clock, and takes it out on friendly Agnus soldiers by killing them and sabotaging their attempts to help the City.
- Mirror Character:
- He's basically Agnus' answer to Jeremy, being an angry Jerkass who hates the newfound peace with his faction's opposite side and would much rather have the fighting continue. The difference is he is much more violent and dangerous, actively leading military operations to cause chaos, whereas the worst Jeremy did was to poison the party non-lethally.
- More precisely, he is this to Gustav, who is basically a Darker and Edgier Jeremy who leads military operations while in the guise of the Castle inspector, making him just as proactive in his malice as Ragzy.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: He actively prefers hostility over peace and accepted the fake Queen over the real one.
Colony Gamma
- Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: Due to most of the experienced soldiers being killed off during an early game mission, Colony Gamma's remaining soldiers are competently trained but don't have much in the way of real combat experience. Teach is aware of this, and tries to compensate by staging mock battles between the Colony and the protagonists during his Ascension Quest.
Commander Teach
- See here for Colony Gamma's Commander, Teach.
Mio, Taion, & Sena
- See here for Colony Gamma's Special Unit, Mio, Taion, and Sena.
Manana
- See here for Colony Gamma's cook, Manana.
Hackt
Hackt
A soldier from Agnus who fights alongside Mio's team at the beginning of the game.
- Came Back Wrong: He's amongst the soldiers revived by Y as slaves under his control at Colony Omega. While he regains control over himself, he doesn't get his memories back, though the party considers it a good thing that he at least doesn't have to remember the horrific way he died in his previous life.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: D crushes the life out of him and Mwamba in front of the party.
- Foil: To Mwamba. Whereas Mwamba was a Mauve Shirt who got some strong character development before D killed him, Hackt is a Red Shirt who has almost no development before he's killed by D.
- Red Shirt: Just as soon as he's first introduced, he's immediately killed not five minutes later. He reappears later on as a new incarnation, but gets most of his characterization from sidequests.
- Sacrificial Lamb: His murder along with Mwamba's, a Kevesi soldier who seemingly had a similar relationship to Noah's team, at the hands of D is one of the first things that prompts the two protagonist trios to put their differences aside and realize the true enemy in Moebius.
- Satellite Character: After he's brought back to life by Y and is freed from his mind control, a majority of Hackt's dialogue involves what he's been talking about with Mwamba.
- Walking the Earth: He states that after the fighting is over, he and Mwamba plan to travel around all of Aionios and visit as many Colonies as they can.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: An extreme example of this, as he's killed in the exact same cutscene that he's introduced in spite of allegedly being one of Mio's closest allies. However, both he and Mwamba reappear later as new incarnations, and relocate to the City after Ouroboros frees them from Y's mind control.
Kyrie
Kyrie
A member of Colony Gamma and a huge fan of Mio.
- Character Development: When put in a desperate situation she manages to gain more confidence and competence during Teach's Ascension Quest.
- Cloudcuckoolander: The other soldiers in Colony Gamma describe her as always having her head in the clouds, to the point that it can interfere with her situational awareness.
- The Ditz: Kyrie is very exciteable, prone to distraction and tends to not think things through, especially when it comes to Mio.
- Expy: To Miyuki from Xenosaga, being a comically klutzy friend and admirer of the main heroine to the point of Ambiguously Gay Stalker with a Crush levels.
- Fangirl: She's one of Mio's biggest fans in the Colony and seeks to emulate her.
- Long Range Combatant: Her Blade is an Ether rifle.
- No Sense of Direction: Kyrie has a terrible sense of direction, and the first time the party meets her she's gotten lost from Colony Gamma. It's far from the first time this has happened either. Eunie recommends that she take a class on reading maps and such, only to find that she already has been taught about this, dozens of times to no avail.
Colony Delta
- Hufflepuff House: The only thing known about this colony is that it was commanded by Cammuravi and it won against a Keves colony shortly before Cammuravi was detained for his loss against Ethel. It doesn't even appear on the affinity chart, and its fate after losing its commander is unknown.
Commander Cammuravi
- See here for Colony Delta's Commander, Cammuravi.
Colony Theta
The Colony that Mio, Sena, and Miyabi originally belonged to before it was destroyed in a battle.- Doomed Hometown: For Mio, Sena, and Miyabi, being their original Colony before being destroyed, forcing Mio and Sena to migrate to Colony Gamma.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The Commander is only seen in one cutscene and isn't even given a name, but he's the one that assigned Mio as an off-seer.
Miyabi
- See here for Miyabi of Colony Theta.
Colony Iota
- The Ace: While most of the colonies suffer from varying issues, Colony Iota stands out as one of the most successful colonies thanks to Alexandria's leadership.
- Enlightened Self-Interest: Colony Iota aids other colonies with the expectation that they'll return the favor in the future. This attitude serves as an extension of its leader's difficulty in trusting people. Over time, this develops into a genuine desire to work together as allies.
- Fictional Holiday: On a regular basis Colony Iota hosts a Harvest Day, where members of the colony who contribute the most are crowned Harvest Day Royals and are allowed to request whatever they want (within reason) as a reward.
- Hidden Supplies: Colony Iota has a huge surplus of supplies stashed in a cave north east of their main base. Once their Flame Clock is destroyed Alexandria decides to trade them to other Colonies in order to improve relations.
Commander Alexandria
- See here for Colony Iota's Commander, Alexandria.
Colony Lambda
- Animal Motifs: Colony Lambda's Ferronis is shaped like a giant turtle. It isn't particularly maneuverable, but is heavily armoured and equipped with a powerful Wave-Motion Gun.
- Cave Behind the Falls: The entire Colony is hidden inside such a cave. It is noted to be an excellent defensive position, and by placing the Colony's Ferronis in front of the entrance it becomes almost impregnable.
- Flipping Helpless: The Lambda Ferronis is defeated when Sena hits it so hard it flips upside down. It takes a couple chapters until the Colony can reorient the Ferronis.
- Forced Sleep: The real members of Lambda are discovered unconscious courtesy of J's powers.
- Vast Bureaucracy: The extensive bureaucratic system that Lambda operates under is both a strength and weakness. While it helped them accumulate Ether Cylinders from the nearby mines, getting the right approval to distribute them is a headache.
- We Have Become Complacent: Colony Lambda isn't strictly a combative colony, but instead focuses more on logistics. When they do get into fights with Kevesi Colonies, they gather as much intel as possible so as to gain the advantage. While this worked out well for them before, their old ways quickly become outdated after their Flame Clock is destroyed and ally themselves with the Ouroboros. One sidequest sees them being attacked by their own fellow Agnians and being caught totally flatfoot, though this was purposely done by Koji, a Lambda Colony member, to prove to the others that they can't rely on their old way of doing things anymore to get by.
Commander Isurd
- See here for Colony Lambda's Commander, Isurd.
Nimue
Nimue
Voiced by: Yukiyo Fujii (Japanese), Maya-Nika Bewley (English)
One of Taion's old friends and former commanding officers. Taion believes himself to have had a hand in her death and fears Isurd's feelings towards the act. She appears to be a Blade with ice or crystalline features. She wields the weapon called Mondo in battle, just like Taion.
- Ambiguously Related: Aionios Moments states that her design was meant to be based off of the Ice-type Blade Theory, making it possible that she is Theory's daughter.
- Back from the Dead: Like all Kevesi and Agnian soldiers, she turns out to be completely fine during Taion's Ascension Quest, albeit as a new incarnation.
- Florence Nightingale Effect: She grew close to Isurd after nursing him back to health, ultimately leaving her Colony so she could be with him.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She sacrificed her life to save Taion and two other Agnian soldiers from an overwhelming Kevesi force during a mission gone wrong.
- Hidden Elf Village: While we first see her living as part of Colony Lambda, she is actually native to a colony a older generation of Ouroboros freed from the Flame Clocks many years ago and who have proceeded to live in hiding ever since. Wanting to see the world, she left this colony after finding Isurd and saving his life, but is reborn in one of their still functioning pods after she is killed protecting Taion's retreat.
- The Lost Lenore: For both Taion and Isurd. Regardless of if either of them held feelings for her, both of them admired her and cared for her deeply. Her Heroic Sacrifice to save Taion deeply hurt Taion and resulted in him being more jaded towards the world, while Isurd felt regret for bringing her into the conflict to begin with, causing him to develop a small amount of resentment towards Taion.
- Mentor Archetype: She was the one who taught Taion how to use his Mondo, as well as how to be a strategist.
Colony Mu
In General
- Call to Agriculture: While they were already keeping an eye on the Armu they share an island with, the people of Colony Mu turn part of the Colony into a paddock and start rearing Armu. They can also grow potatoes if you choose their colony during a Colony 9 quest.
- Locked Out of the Loop: None of the members of Colony Mu know the exact details of Irma's death, except that it happened. Fiona and Tallow are the only members that know the truth until the end of Fiona's Ascension Quest, where they finally tell them.
- People Puppets: Their Consul places them under mind control near the end of Fiona's Hero Quest, though save for Tallow, none of them actually act hostile.
- Shout-Out: The Colony's name, the fact that its named characters of note are primarily female, that Fiona's outfit resembles a Sailor Fuku, that they all have their own personal salute that's like a group cheer, and that one of them is a Third-Person Person named Nico is a reference to the idol group μ's from Love Live!.
- Shrine to the Fallen: Every time someone dies in battle in Colony Mu, a flower is planted for them in remembrance near the Colony entrance. By the time the party reaches Mu, it's a massive flower field known as the Bed of Woes and Wishes.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Platonically, a majority of the Colony tends to announce their love for each other as a collective group, usually saying so to Fiona, and does so in the most exaggeratedly cutesy way possible.
- Teenage Wasteland: The Colony is mostly comprised of soldiers either fifth Term or younger (Ayase is an outlier in her seventh Term, the oldest of Colony Mu on the Affinity Chart), or only between 10-14 years old, without any adult supervision. This turns out to be by design, to make controlling their knowledge easier.
Commander Fiona
- See here for Colony Mu's Commander, Fiona.
Irma (SPOILERS)
Tallow
- Big Eater: He loves to eat, and eats a lot.
- Butt-Monkey: The other Colony Mu inhabitants save for Fiona love to make fun of him, though they also often note they find him endearing.
- The Confidant: After Irma's death, he tells Fiona that if she's having troubles she can vent to him, as for some time he is the only one who knows what Fiona went through. It's implied that Irma directly charged him with doing so, as after the subsequent battle against Mu's Consul, he mentions that Irma woke him up after Lanz knocked him out and he heard and saw everything. Even beforehand, the main reason he gives for wanting Colony Mu's Flame Clock destroyed is because it'll mean Fiona won't have to work as hard anymore.
- Dual Wielding: He uses twin sword Blades.
- Mistaken for Romance: While they don't have the exact word for it, the rest of Mu notice that he and Fiona have been spending more time together after the latter's Ascension Quest and think something's going on between them. In reality, it's because he's being her sounding board following Irma's death.
- Secret-Keeper: He helps Fiona keep the exact nature of Irma's death a secret from the rest of Mu.
Nico
A member of Colony Mu who's recognizable for referring to herself in third person.
- Third-Person Person: Niconote usually refers to herself in the third person, and has to explain that to Ouroboros any time they talk to her.
Colony Sigma
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Although they are decisively defeated by the higher-ranked Colony 9, they nevertheless put up a fierce fight, even briefly gaining an upper hand and almost outflanking 9's troops until the Kevesi trio turns the tide.
- Starter Villain: While the war is closer to Gray-and-Gray Morality, Colony Sigma is the first antagonist fought by the Kevesi trio.
Colony Tau
- Appeal to Tradition: Several sidequests in Tau involve encouraging its inhabitants to break away from ineffective or outright dangerous traditions. Juniper's Ascension Quest reveals that they were introduced by Consul U as a way to kill members of her Colony before they reached Homecoming.
- Decomposite Character: Discussed by the people of Tau regarding the old Commander. He passed on his responsibility to Juniper before dying, while his other traits were inherited by other Colony members.
- The Fatalist: Most of the inhabitants of Colony Tau are resigned to the fact that their Flame Clock is going to run out soon, and that trying to do something about it is futile because We All Die Someday. It takes a huge monster attack and the assistance of the protagonists to snap them out of this mentality.
Commander Juniper
- See here for Colony Tau's Commander, Juniper.
Colony Chi
A Silver-rank Colony that has been lost to time. They were a vicious Colony, led by All-Slayer Oleg, who stopped at nothing to achieve victory, including sacrificing their own troops. After engaging in combat with multiple Colonies at once at the Rottswoe Battlescar, their soldiers all died, and the Colony was dismantled.- Blood Knight: They were just as bad as Colony 11 in this regard. Colony Chi's soldiers did everything they could to achieve victory, and would resort to the most violent methods possible to dispose of their enemies.
- Death by Origin Story: Colony Chi is first mentioned by name at the end of Teach's Ascension Quest. By the time the story begins, Chi no longer exists thanks to the battle at Rottswoe Battlescar, and Taion only knows of its existence due to textbook readings.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: In all reports of Colony Chi, Commander Oleg is said to have been one of the casualties at Rottswoe Battlescar, making all of its soldiers effectively extinct. The truth is, Oleg was the Sole Survivor, and he took on a new life as Commander Teach of Colony Gamma.
- Sociopathic Soldier: The soldiers of Colony Chi showed absolutely No Sympathy to their comrades, willing to sacrifice one another relentlessly in order to achieve victory.
- We Have Reserves: Due to them seeing victory as the only thing that matters, they let their soldiers drop dead numerous times, seeing them as disposable fodder. It's rumoured that this sense of carelessness is the reason why they never became a Gold-rank Colony.
Colony Omega
- Abandoned Laboratory: Colony Omega still stands in present day, but it's completely abandoned due to being destroyed before the events of the story, with all of its laboratories empty save for some unfinished experiments.
- Black Site: Colony Omega was a secret Colony that Moebius used as a fertile ground for creating science experiments, and no one in Aionios knew of its existence besides the soldiers who were transferred there.
- Doomed Hometown: Between their tenures at Colony Theta and Colony Gamma, Mio, Sena, and Miyabi were positioned at Colony Omega. The Colony was destroyed from the inside out before the events of the story, with Miyabi making a Heroic Sacrifice to get Mio and Sena out safely.
- Non-Action Guy: Likely to further keep its existence a secret, none of the soldiers in Colony Omega did any fighting in the Forever War.
- The Plague: How the Colony was destroyed, with a Deadly Gas spreading all throughout that choked the soldiers all to death. It's revealed to have been an inside job done by Consul Y, who used a new style of Flame Clock to kill all of the residents of Colony Omega so that he could revive them as mindless zombies.
The Lost Colony
- Arcadia: It is in one of the most visually stunning locations in the game due to the sheer number of Saffronias, and its people farm instead of fighting in the Forever War. However, they are completely shut off from the outside world.
- Bystander Syndrome: When their chief is warned of Moebius V's intent of destroying the colony, she believes they deserve it for having done nothing about the Forever War they've been cut off from.
- Cherry Blossoms: The colony is home to a large number of Saffronia trees, whose vivid blossoms are in full bloom when the party visits.
- Hidden Elf Village: The Lost Colony is located in an isolated region of Agnus and is staunchly isolationist, rebuffing any prolonged visitors.
- Off the Grid: Their Flame Clock broke a long time ago, meaning they cannot be found by the other colonies or Moebius. However, their Ferronis is still operational and Taion and Riku use it to distract V during the former's Ascension Quest.
The Nopon Caravan
- Alien Non-Interference Clause: They apparently made a deal with Moebius to not interfere with the Forever War.
Ino
- See here for the Artificial Blade Ino.
Shillshill
- Knows a Guy Who Knows a Guy: Almost every trader in the Nopon Caravan knows her by name, with multiple being late on fulfilling their promise of giving her their Nopon Pebbles.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She holds the most amount of power in the Nopon Caravan, with many Nopon being indebted to her, but she's also a rather personable girl who's always polite to her friends and subordinates.
- Secret Test of Character: The real reason why Shillshill had the party retrieve Nopon Pebbles was to test whether or not human/Nopon relations were actually stable.
Sunny
- Breaking Old Trends: In previous games, Nopon drug dealers who were peddling Pollen Orbs were either portrayed as completely heinous, like with Bana, or as Well-Intentioned Extremists, like with Chairman Morumo. Sunny is the first Nopon drug dealer to be portrayed in a completely sympathetic light, and even Ino's closest friend.
- Functional Addict: He seems to always get the urge to get high off of his own Pollen Orbs, but even with this addiction, he's a skilled inventor, an amicable guy, and maintains a loving relationship with Cheerio.
- Getting High on Their Own Supply: He discusses this trope, saying he gets the urge to dig into his personal stash of Pollen Orbs every now and then.
- Office Romance: He and Cheerio are a couple, and also work together as business partners in the Caravan.
- Stink Bomb: What the OP Pollen Orb is designed to do. Its stench is so rancid, that it'll keep the Nopon Eater on land out of pain, preventing it from flying away. Nopon have exclusive genetics that makes the stench not so unbearable to them, while Ino can't smell at all (or was designed to not be bothered by the smell) due to being an Artificial Blade, but Noah is incredibly hesitant to take the OP Pollen Orb due to how bad it smells, while the rest of Ouroboros is standing far away from it with tissues stuffed up their noses, egging Noah on to just take it.
- Tradesnarkâ„¢: A lot of his inventions come with the disclaimer of (Patent Pending). Even in casual conversations, he and Ino still say the names of the inventions in full, (Patent Pending) included.
The City
The Lost Numbers
In General
- And Your Reward Is Infancy: At the end of the game after the party defeats Z and allow Origin to start time back up again, Monica and Ghondor note how the City inhabitants (including themselves) won't be able to exist as they are because they were born on Aionios. Instead, they'll eventually be reborn at some point as the Lost Numbers were still written into Origin's plans.
- Bystander Syndrome: Monica mentions that there are inhabitants of the City that couldn't care less about the suffering of the rest of Aionios as long as it doesn't affect them personally. Justified to an extent by how long the City has been fighting without any real progress, and by Moebius projecting images of mass executions of their captured loved ones each year.
- Color Motif: City Blades are either completely red or orange or have red-orange Tron Lines.
- Deconstruction: They are exactly the same position as New Los Angeles, being the one city of resistance against a hostile world and being outgunned by their opponents, with a military leadership and their own strike team of protagonists (Team Elma for NLA, the Ouroboros Candidates for the Lost Numbers). However, they lack the technological insight of a more advanced alien race, they’re not descended from a race their opponents actively fear, they don't have easily replaceable robot bodies, the forces of Agnus and Keves are too brainwashed to help them out like the Xeno races who supported NLA, and are up against the full brunt of Moebius instead of just the Ganglion's severely lacking leadership. The result is a Hopeless War that has been drawn out for thousands of years where their greatest achievements have been All for Nothing. As a result, the military leadership of the city is repeatedly called into question by its inhabitants, most of whom are willing to just hide from the enemy. Whenever they put their faith in a group of protagonists (akin to Team Elma), said protagonists always chose themselves over the cause when they realise how hopeless their situation is. When Lao turned traitor, the worst he did was steal the Prog Ares. When N and Shania turned traitor, they waste no time in attempting to raze the city to the ground, although Shania's attempt is stopped at least.
- Feuding Families: Despite being the sole bastion of "regular" humanity, the City still managed to split itself into the Six Families, that have often contrasting viewpoints and constantly bicker among each other. There's even a City sidequest that's literally Romeo and Juliet, just to drive the point home further.
- Heroic Lineage: The Six Houses each have a notable history of paragons:
- House Vandham are the direct descendants of Founder Vandham, one of the Six Founders of the City. Future Redeemed reveals that Matthew Vandham was the great-grandson of Noah and Mio, or more specifically N and M, which means that House Vandham are descendants of Noah and Mio. As Mio is heavily implied to be the daughter of Rex and Nia, that traces House Vandham's lineage back to them and possibly as far back as Addam Origo, Rex's implied ancestor.
- House Doyle are the direct descendants of Founder Doyle, one of the Six Founders of the City. Future Redeemed reveals that Na'el Doyle was the great-granddaughter of Noah and Mio, or more specifically N and M, which means that House Doyle are descendants of Noah and Mio. As Mio is heavily implied to be the daughter of Rex and Nia, that traces House Doyle's lineage back to them and possibly as far back as Addam Origo, Rex's implied ancestor.
- House Rhodes are the direct descendants of Founder Rhodes, one of the Six Founders of the City. Future Redeemed revealed that Glimmer Rhodes was the daughter of Rex and Pyra, which traces House Rhodes's lineage back to them and possibly as far back as Addam Origo, Rex's implied ancestor.
- House Ortiz are the direct descendants of Founder Ortiz, one of the Six Founders of the City. Future Redeemed revealed that Nikol Ortiz was the son of Shulk and Fiora, which traces House Ortiz's lineage back to them.
- House Cassini are the direct descendants of Founder Cassini, one of the Six Founders of the City. Future Redeemed heavily implied that Linka Cassini is the daughter of Zeke von Genbu and Pandoria, which would make them direct descendant of the Tantalese royal family and possibly the Tornan royal family via Zettar being their implied ancestor.
- House Reid are the direct descendants of Founder Reid, one of the Six Founders of the City. Future Redeemed heavily implied that Panacea Reid is the daughter of Reyn and Sharla, which would make them their direct descendants.
- Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: While actually being a active soldier is strictly voluntary, as the City is essentially a paramilitary commune, there's a noted disdain towards people with pursuits that seemingly don't help the war effort:
- Shania's mother considered her love of painting worthless because it wasn't making her better at fighting or surpassing the Vandhams.
- In Lanz's Ascension Quest, the party meets a juggler who laments the fact that since he chose not to become a soldier, his juggling is not seen as being of any use despite his skill at it and the fact that it raises morale amongst the City's inhabitants.
- La Résistance: They're a resistance movement against the Consuls.
- Mirroring Factions: While they have things like longer lifespans and natural births, living under constant threat from Moebius and the way this centralizes their society around their military makes the inhabitants of the City not much different from the Kevesi or Agnian soldiers. Their training program for Ouroboros candidates, where only the best six can be selected, even induces the same hierarchal pressures that the Colony ranking system does, something that Lanz notes while observing their training. Shania cites this as one of her reasons for betraying the City, seeing no difference between their lives and those the clone soldiers lead.
- Mobile City: The City is actually a giant Ferronis capable of moving, though this is a secret only shared with the most trustworthy members of the group.
- Morph Weapon: As descendants of the Ouroboros, they share the ability to form their weapon into any type of Blade, though they normally stick with one as they lack Ouroboros' ability to instantly pick up Blade skills by switching classes.
- No Body Left Behind: What happens to people born of the City when they die, of the Disappears into Light and Empty Piles of Clothing variety. Due to this they do not have graves, only memorial stones, and whatever possessions they leave behind may be treated as keepsakes. The implicit reason for this is that they are not souls that were contained within Origin at the time of the creation of Aionios, and thus they exist outside of the rebirth process Z instituted (albeit Melia implies that Origin has recorded/stored them as "future lives" and will enable their eventual rebirth). One exception to this was Shania, as she had become connected with the Flame Clock system before her death and thus left behind a usual husk.
- Our Humans Are Different: The only humans in the setting whose lifespans are the same as humans on Earth, contrasting the Agnians and Kevesi who only live about 10 years at most once they leave their pods.
- Rite of Passage: The City has a concept of a Homecoming, but it's meant to be when a person transitions to adulthood rather than dying as in Keves and Agnus. After wearing special wreaths and going through a ceremony at the Founder Statues accompanied by speeches and music, they're granted a key to a property where they'll live from then on as opposed to the dormitories.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Reaching the City is the party's first primary objective over the course of the game. While they're initially rendered speechless by the number of people and the concept of living a normal, free life, they also learn that the City is far from perfect and not quite the haven they initially believed due to generations of political in-fighting, radical factions within each group, and a barely-there sense of unity only thanks to the respect for the Founders. Several side quests involve and further explore its self-contained world and how it also has to learn to confront change when it inevitably arrives.
The Founders
- See here for the Founders of the City.
Travis
Travis
Voiced by: Keiji Hirai (Japanese), Nigel Pilkington (English)
- Beleaguered Assistant: Downplayed. He is loyal to Monica and trusts her as the leader of the Lost Numbers, but he's shown to be incredibly apathetic towards anything going on outside the City, and whenever Monica puts him in charge of the Lost Numbers while she's out on missions with Ouroboros, he shows great reluctance in taking the role.
- Large Ham: Acts as one in Miyabi's Ascension Quest when announcing the judges and contestants for the Cooking Contest, peppering their descriptions to hype up the crowd.
- Number Two: He is nearly always seen with or communicating with Monica during major City operations, and is the one in charge when she's out on a mission.
Aggy & Oggy
Oggy on the left, Aggy on the right.
Ghondor's two bodyguards.- Bodyguarding a Badass: Their job is guarding Ghondor despite her being even tougher than they are.
- The Dividual: Aggy and Oggy are never seen apart and are effectively one character in two.
- Stoic Spectacles: Oggy wears glasses and is a stern individual.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: They're Ghondor's counterparts to her grandfather Guernica's sidekicks Yew and Zuo, who are themselves based on Vandham's lackeys of the same name in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
Gray
- See here for the Full Metal Jaguar, Gray.
Jansen
- Likes Older Women: He's had feelings for Monica for years to the point that it's implied to be an open secret amongst the other Ouroboros candidates despite her being 11 years older than him (as well as being his dead brother's wife). He lampshades during his confession that he knows it's likely Monica probably never saw him as anything more than a little brother.
- Missed the Call: Like the other Ouroboros candidates, he was slated to be part of the latest generation of Ouroboros before Guernica made the executive decision to activate the Ouroboros Stone and make the party Ouroboros.
- Practically Different Generations: Implied. His brother was presumably around Monica's age, but he appears young enough to be a peer of Ouroboros. The Affinity Chart confirms an age difference of eleven years between him and Monica, with Jansen aged 22 and Monica aged 33, making him only four years older than his niece and Monica's daughter Ghondor (aged 18).
Samon
Samon
A skilled Nopon engineer responsible for the City's ship yard.
- The Engineer: His skill with machines makes him invaluable for the Lost Numbers war effort, and was able to design a ship capable of making it to Origin, with the only thing holding him back from completion being a lack of resources.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: Not only is he a skilled engineer, he's also one of the seven legendary Nopon blacksmiths required to upgrade the party's default weapons.
Grandfather Ghondor (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Ghondor
Voiced by: Bin Shimada (Japanese), Matthew Marsh (English)
Click here to see him as a child
"The only true end... is the moment that you give up."
A member of the original City, grandfather of Founders Vandham and Doyle, and son of the incarnations of Noah and Mio who became N and M. He carried on his parents' teachings and taught his grandchildren to harness Ouroboros — only to be killed by his own father.
- Armor-Piercing Question: In a last ditch attempt to appeal to his father, Ghondor asks if the destruction of the City and slaughter of their family is what Mio would want. This visibly rattles N, who tells his son that he doesn't need to know and it's his burden to bare, showing N knows Mio would never approve of his actions while at the same time trying to protect his son from the truth.Ghondor: ...What about Mum...?
N: (gasp)
Ghondor: Did she... want this too...?
N: ...You don't need to know. The burden is... mine alone to bear.
Ghondor: Mum would... tell you... to let it go, I'm sure. I know it... But you... you can't choose... this path...
N: Ghondor... - Bare-Fisted Monk: His Blade is a pair of gauntlets and passed his skills down to Matthew. Despite his age, he's still perfectly capable of sending both his grandchildren flat on their asses with nothing but his bare hands.
- Broken Pedestal: Ghondor idolized his parents and what little they were able to leave him. Seeing his father not only come back as a Moebius and destroy the City, but target his own progeny in Na'el was quite a shock to Ghondor, to say the least.
- Conveniently an Orphan: He couldn't have been more than a couple of years old when he had to watch both his parents fade away into nothing, leaving him with no family since Noah and Mio were part of Aionios' cycle of rebirth. At the same time, him being a resident of the City meant that the would be looked after by the other residents in place of his parents.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: After being fatally stabbed by N, Ghondor's death causes all of his Ouroboros power to erupt violently, which ironically causes just as much if not more damage to the City than N himself did.
- Good Old Ways: During the time of Future Redeemed, the Ouroboros powers have yet to reach the height of power seen in the main game and are starting to be seen as a relic of the past by the inhabitants of the city, who favor Blade amplifications.
- Love Hurts: He loves both his father Noah and his granddaughter Na'el, so seeing them try to kill each other as Moebius N and Alpha's host respectively leaves him helplessly watching on the sidelines for most of the fight in anguish. Even when he finally takes a side by Taking the Bullet, he only does so at hearing Na'el's weak pleading for help and tries to appeal to N's humanity to not do this.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: He was the teacher of Matthew and Na'el, and died protecting them.
- No Name Given: While Mio did give him a name, it went unheard in the original game. Future Redeemed reveals his name is Ghondor and Monica's daughter's namesake.
- Old Master: Even in his twilight years, Ghondor is far from a pushover with his Ouroboros powers.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. His distant descendant, Monica Vandham's daughter, was named after him.
- Outliving One's Offspring: His child and their spouse died in the last major battle against Moebius 15 years prior to the start of Future Redeemed.
- Raised by Grandparents: As a result of their parent's deaths, Ghondor raised Matthew and Na'el. While they give him grief about his parenting style (for example, telling stories about the City's history and teaching them about Ouroboros, which had become outdated to many of the people of the first City), it's clear that they love him dearly and value what he taught them.
- Sadistic Choice: He's forced to choose between either letting his resurrected father, who's now become the very thing the City fights to defeat, murder his granddaughter, or stop him and let said granddaughter, who's the willing host to an AI that wants to destroy the whole world, continue her plans. In the end, he tries to protect said granddaughter with his own body and appeal to the humanity of his father to stop even as he's bleeding out.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Despite not realizing it, Ghondor's intervention during the destruction of the first City was part of what split A from Alpha, which eventually allows them to step in to serve as Origin's core at the end of Future Redeemed and as such, keep Aionios running.
- Spanner in the Works: His death creates a kink in Alpha's plans; the explosion from his Ouroboros powers running wild along with N's power ended up allowing the "Alvis" portion of Alpha to break free from him and become A, who would later go on to oppose him with the Founders.
- Strong Family Resemblance: As a child, he looked remarkably similar to his father Noah and keeps the similarities even as an old man.
- Taking the Bullet: He jumps in the way of N's attack to protect Na'el.
House Cassini
Masha
- See here for Lapidarist Extraordinaire and Head of House Cassini, Masha.
House Vandham
Guernica
Guernica Vandham
Voiced by: Tesshō Genda (Japanese), Simon Thorp (English)
"The only thing that can change all this, is the will of Ouroboros. You kids, and you alone."
A mysterious man hailing from neither Keves nor Agnus, who grants the party their Ouroboros powers and tells them about the "true enemy" — Moebius.
- Ascended Extra: Played with. In contrast to the previous Vandhams in the Xenoblade Chronicles series, Guernica is the one who gets the ball rolling at the start of the game, informing the main characters that there's someone pulling the strings for both sides and giving them their Ouroboros powers. On the other hand, despite what pre-release materials and the trailers suggested, this Vandham is killed off minutes after he's introduced.
- Awesome Aussie: In the English dub, he has the same thick Australian accent as the Vandham from 2, which he passed on to his daughter and granddaughter.
- The Big Guy: He's as big and muscular as Lanz, and he has no trouble keeping Mio and Noah pinned to the ground while getting their groups to stop fighting.
- Genghis Gambit: His first attempt at getting the members of Ouroboros to work together is to tell them he is the real enemy and force an Enemy Mine between the Kevesi and Agnian soldiers. This is ultimately subverted when the true enemy, Consul D, shows up.
- Heroic Lineage: He's a descendent of the Founder Vandham, one of the original Ouroboros and founders of the Lost Numbers.
- Identical Stranger: Beyond just continuing the series' Recurring Element of being someone named Vandham, he looks and sounds a lot like Vandham from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, down to having the same voice actors in English and Japanese. Nia's Hero Quest however, implies that the Vandham family seen in 3 may be distant descendants of Vandham from 2.
- Made of Iron: Despite getting a hole shot clean through his chest, he's still able to climb into his ship, pilot it into attacking D, being thrown around, and convince the party to stop their fighting while delivering exposition before dying. While he still dies, the wound should have killed him instantly yet he's able to survive for several more minutes at least before passing away.
- Meaningful Name: His first name, Guernica, comes from a famous anti-war painting by Pablo Picasso, reflecting how he isn't on either side of the conflict but rather working towards ending it and focuses on the "real enemy".
- Mr. Exposition: He tells the party about the "real enemy".
- Mythology Gag: Not only does he look and sound like XC2 Vandham, his comrades are even named Yew and Zuo and look similar to their Alrest counterparts as well. He also has Vandham as a surname similar to Commander Jack Vandham from Xenoblade Chronicles X.
- Nice Guy: In the limited amount of time that we see him, while he's forced to rough Noah and Mio up a bit to keep them from fighting, he comes off as a very affable guy.
- Old Soldier: Vandham tells the party that he's 60 or in their words having lived for more than six cycles, but he's still an active fighter and strong enough to knock everyone back with a single punch.
- Parents as People: Monica mentions that due to his duties to the City he was so busy that she knew him more as leader of the City than as her parent growing up, though she still loved him all the same.
- Posthumous Character: The party only learns much about him long after he dies at the beginning of the game.
- Recurring Element: Carries on the series tradition of having one "Vandham" per game. However, there is an entire family of the Vandham this time around.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Twofold. Despite dying within an hour after his introduction, Vandham's last act triggers the cast's ability to become Ouroboros while revealing the existence of a hidden faction steering the war. There's also the fact that he is, by his own admission, sixty years old; given how it was established almost immediately within the first hour of the game that everyone in Agnus and Keves only has a life span of ten years and looks to be in their late teens at best to early twenties at oldest, this clues the player in that not everything is at it first seems.
- Spanner in the Works: The Ouroboros Stone in his possession and him just being there when Noah and Mio's respective allies clash throws a major wrench in the Consuls' "games".
- Super-Empowering: Uses the Ouroboros Stone during the protagonists' battle with D, causing all six to become Ouroboros themselves and give them the upper hand against D.
- They Killed Kenny Again: True to the tradition started with Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Vandham ends up getting killed again.
- Unintentional Backup Plan: He originally meant to retrieve the Ouroboros Stone in order to empower the City's candidates but was found out and ambushed in Alfeto Valley leaving him no choice but to activate it to empower Noah's and Mio's groups lest D would claim it. He also recognizes Noah's Blade as special, and decides that giving the group of teens Ouroboros powers is what was supposed to happen all along, that it was why he ended up there.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies in the very same chapter he's introduced in. Any other information about him comes long after his death.
- Would Hit a Girl: If only to cool Mio down upon stopping her fight with Noah and getting both parties to realize the true threat of Moebius, he does not hesitate to deliver a gut punch into her, akin to how Malos did to Pyra from the previous game.
- "X" Marks the Hero: Has an X-shaped scar on his face, and he's a hero.
Monica
- See here for Guernica's daughter and later Head of House Vandham, Monica.
Ghondor
- See here for Monica's daughter, Ghondor.
Rozana
Rozana
- Good Is Not Nice: A trait she shares with Gray, as she has no objections to putting lives in danger in order to see her goals achieved, but she does so knowing that those on the receiving end are either deserving or capable enough that they can get out unharmed.
- Happily Married: Despite not being able to see him much, she clearly loves Gray a great deal and doesn't begrudge him in the slightest for his dedication to his work.
- May–December Romance: She's a full 30 years younger than her husband, who is 60 years old.
- The Mole: In Gray's ascention quest she seems to have set him up to be killed so that the hardliner's plans can come to fruition, but in reality she had been working with Monica to undo them the whole time.
- Supreme Chef: She won a City-wide cooking contest in the past, so Miyabi asks her for advice in her Ascension Quest.
- The Unfettered: She is noted by many to be very headstrong and stubborn when she gets an idea in her head, with nothing stopping her until she sees it through. For example, her plan to root out the hardliners in the Lost Numbers ranks, regardless of personal danger.
House Doyle
Garrett
Garrett Doyle
"What we should be looking at right now is tightening our defenses and protecting the City. We can leave Moebius to Ouroboros."
Head of House Doyle, and one of the most prominent Conservatives in the City.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Disapproves of his daughter Joulietta marrying Romero as he views him unfit to marry into House Doyle and sees his work as a Lost Number as inviting future tragedy. Monica remarks that ultimately he simply wants to protect his family and she can't hold that against him.
- Feuding Families: Opposes many of the ways House Vandham runs the City. He and the other Conservatives favor non-intervention, wishing to keep the City out of the Keves-Agnus war entirely and avoid what they see as pointless casualties.
- I Have No Daughter!: When his daughter Joulietta refuses to break up with Romero after Romero refuses his ultimatum of retiring from the Lost Numbers, he disowns her then and there. Played with in that it's indicated this is what Joulietta wanted to happen, that since Garrett could not endorse her actions as a member of his House then the solution was to have her no longer be part of the house. Joulietta is actually quite happy with the result.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Downplayed due to his minor antagonistic role, but still present. While they do clash on various matters of policy, he and Monica respect each other and Garrett pointedly opposes extreme rebellious actions such as the group who attempted to defect from the City. He is likewise willing to set aside minor disputes for the sake of the greater good.
Joulietta
Joulietta Doyle
- Disinherited Child: Her father Garrett disowns her when she refuses to stop pursuing Romero. This spurs her to join the Lost Numbers to fight by Romero's side.
- Expy: A pretty clear one for Juliet Capulet.
- Gratuitous Iambic Pentameter: Fittingly for her inspiration, almost every line spoken by her or Romero is in iambic pentameter.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Has difficulties getting together with her beloved Romero due to their families' feud.
House Rhodes
Hollis
Hollis Rhodes
"All right then, lads and lasses. Who wants to know how babies are made?"
The City Doctor and a member of House Rhodes. He's responsible for teaching Ouroboros about the existence of babies and responding to any immediate medical emergencies going on in the City.
- Cool Old Guy: He's elderly, with his hair visibly greying, and he has a very chipper demeanor.
- Generation Xerox: The Founder of House Rhodes was the designated medic amongst the Liberators during the early days of Aionios. Fittingly enough, Hollis, a member of House Rhodes, went on to become the City's main medic.
- Jack of All Trades: He's seen working in both the maternity ward and the medical emergency hospital, being proficient in both fields.
- The Talk: He offers to teach Ouroboros how babies are made. His lecture happens off screen.
House Reid
Shania (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Shania Reid
Voiced by: Haruka Terui (Japanese), Louise Stewart (English)
"What about those who can't live in peace, huh?! Are they meant to survive in all this chaos, until the very day they die?! I have not one thing to my name. I don't even have the power to choose!"
One of Monica's assistants, she helps lead the party through the City and assists them with their mission to free Ghondor.
- Alas, Poor Villain:
- Both Ghondor and Sena are deeply saddened by both of her deaths despite her betrayal of the City in general and them in particular, and almost attack Shania's mother when she disrespects her in front of one of the Remembrance Stones before Monica interrupts.
- After Sena's sidequest is completed, Playne mentions that he noticed Shania being constantly compared to her elder sister Titania and the toll it was having, but was told by others to stay out of it, and laments that he didn't try to do more. In the same vein, Timna describes Shania as "the pitiable child of a downtrodden house", and wishes that she and Monica had noticed what was going on earlier.
- Monica herself also shares the sentiment that Shania's death was unfortunate if you approach the Remembrance Stones with her as the active Hero.Monica: Shania... We can't leave your name here, but... Your desires, your hopes... We'll shoulder them for you.
- All for Nothing: After all of her careful planning and betrayals she committed in order to get into the cycle of rebirth to avoid the finality of what would have been her death as a normal City resident, everything fell apart after being revived as a Moebius and being permanently killed at the hands of Ouroboros and Ghondor soon after, a fate that she was trying to avoid in the first place.
- Ancestral Weapon: The gun she occasionally wields was originally her older sister's. A flashback shows Shania's father gently discouraging her from using it before giving her a paintbrush.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: When cornered in the aftermath of Mio's Homecoming ceremony, rather than surrender or resist, Shania simply commits suicide. Subverted in that she knew she would be reborn after having a Flame Clock installed within her.
- Childhood Friends: She and Ghondor have known each other from when they were babies.
- Color Coded Timestop: Anyone frozen by Shania's power is surrounded by a red haze of Moebius energy.
- A Day in the Limelight: Being a Foil to Sena, Shania takes the spotlight during Sena's own Ascension Quest, as the primary antagonist of the quest line.
- Death Equals Redemption: Shania realizes the error of her ways in the midst of dying for the second time after being finished off by Ghondor.
- Despair Event Horizon: Shania's motivation for betraying everyone to Moebius apart from jealousy towards Ghondor is her belief that the constant stasis of Aionios is preferable to a chaotic world where those who can't live in peace (who she describes as those without power, implicitly including herself) suffer. As far as she was concerned her current life was a wash, and getting only that "one chance" was the worst fate possible, leading to her clinging to the promise of getting another life as a soldier in the Forever War, where she could potentially get a better outcome.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Dies for the second time in Ghondor's arms after fighting the party as a Moebius.
- Dishonored Dead: Due to her betrayal of the City, while Sena and Ghondor mourn her at the Remembrance Stones, her name isn't placed there.
- Distaff Counterpart: To Joran; both of them were individuals unfit for direct combat, were overshadowed by their peers, and got mocked for it. This drove them both to give into the temptations of Moebius, and fail to recognize the positive aspects of their natural talents. Lanz and Eunie both point out how similar their tales are once the party finds out that Shania has returned as a Moebius.
- Evil Costume Switch: After being reborn as a Moebius, she trades in her Lost Numbers combat outfit for Consul armor.
- Expy: To Hammer from Xenogears, being an ally to the heroes who betrays them to the villains for power out of a major sense of inadequacy, in the middle of an escape from the villains' home turf, and later fights them while transformed into a monster. She similarly shares Hammer's color scheme between her green outfit and her brown hair that resembles his fur. Her relationship with Ghondor also mirrors Hammer’s friendship with Rico, whom Ghondor herself is similarly based on.
- Foil: To Sena. Both girls were considered outcasts in their youth but eventually befriended and latched on to a girl more popular and talented than them, and their resulting inferiority complexes drove them to emulate their idols in any way they could. The only difference is that Sena eventually grew out of it and decided to embrace her own personal qualities, while Shania couldn't let go of the past and became obsessed with surpassing Ghondor. She also serves to one for the party as a whole, expressing envy of the short but repeated lives that the clone soldiers lead in contrast to the long but equally war-torn lives of the City that they only have one of. Another point of comparison is their weapons: Sena stuck to her hammer despite being mocked for it, while Shania used Ghondor's Cestus despite Ghondor telling her to use her own weapon.
- Freudian Excuse: Shania's older sister Titania and their father were the only source of support in her life. With their deaths, she was left with a mother who treated her with disdain and constant criticism for not living up to the family name. Shania's talents in artistry went underappreciated by the City, who similar to her mother cared only about martial talent. While Ghondor genuinely tried to be a good friend and steer Shania towards what made her happy, Shania's growing jealousy coupled with Ghondor's poor attitude only served to make Shania even more distant. Combined with the Forever War and the fact that unlike the Kevesi and Agnians the City people only have one life to live, it made it all too easy for Consul X to seduce Shania to the dark side and betray Ouroboros and the Lost Numbers.
- Genocide from the Inside: She, an inhabitant of the City, tries to kill everyone in it on two separate occasions (Though even with the City at her mercy the second time around she notably doesn't kill anyone immediately and is shown simply looking at them, instead opting to wait for the party to fight her).
- Girlish Pigtails: She has her hair styled as pigtails, which makes her look younger than Ghondor despite the two of them being the same age. This hairstyle also highlights her immaturity in comparison to the similarly-aged Ouroboros.
- Go Out with a Smile: After she and Ghondor have a heart to heart during the former's final moments after attacking as Moebius S, she cracks a smile before dying at peace.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Her suicide is seen from her own point of view after pulling the trigger, and the following scene has her body face down, preventing the player from seeing the entry wound.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Apart from literally having green eyes, she was deeply envious of Ghondor as Shania's talent as a painter was no good in combat. Even after coming back from the dead and trying to destroy the City, her primary motivation seems to be more based around proving herself better than Ghondor than anything else, with the City's destruction as a secondary goal, as she could've easily killed everyone before the party plus Ghondor got there, but instead waits for them to get there. During the battle proper she calls out Ghondor specifically while attacking. She also expresses jealousy of the clone soldiers of the Colonies and their ability to keep retrying their lives through their cycle of rebirth while as a City inhabitant she only gets one shot.
- Heroic Lineage: She's a descendant of Panacea Reid, one of the City's Founders, and by extension she's likely one of Reyn and Sharla, seeing as Panacea was implied to be their daughter in Future Redeemed.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: One of her main issues growing up was her desire to impress her mother and live up to the Reid name by joining the Ouroboros program despite the fact that she was ill-suited to be a soldier. She still managed to come in 8th out of 100 applicants to become an Ouroboros, but since there can only be 6 at a time, her mother regarded this as no better than coming in last.
- Irony: Despite wanting to be in the cycle of death and rebirth that everyone outside of the City is part of, she's immediately reborn as a Moebius after her suicide, which automatically excludes her from further reincarnation, and then proceeds to die permanently after her battle with Ouroboros and Ghondor.
- Kick the Dog: After she betrays the party and they end up in prison for a month as Mio's Homecoming approaches, she visits them at least once mainly to rub their defeat in their faces, show off her new Flame Clock, and gloat about having entered the cycle of rebirth.
- Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: General City society looks down on artists despite appreciating the morale boost their art gives. Despite her father and Ghondor encouraging her to pursue her passion, she despairingly internalises the rhetoric from her mother and the City.
- Lethal Harmless Powers: Shania claims that her powers allows her to not only freeze people, but freeze the air around them, potentially leaving them to suffocate, though she doesn't bother doing a demonstration.
- Mad Artist: After coming back as a Moebius, she freezes the city's inhabitants in time so that they can serve as her "art", and makes numerous painting metaphors with Ghondor before attacking.
- Meaningful Name: The name Shania is said to be derived from an Ojibwe phrase that translates to "on my way", while Reid is a Scottish surname that means "red". Put the two together and it's not surprising that she joins the red-associated Moebius.
- The Mole: She's been working with Moebius the whole time and giving them intel on the Lost Numbers.
- Morphic Resonance: Moebius S has tentacles coming from her head where Shania's pigtails are in human form.
- Motive Rant: Prior to her first death, she rants about feeling alone and unwanted all her life and the unfairness of the world before proceeding to take her own life with her pistol before Ghondor and Sena can stop her.Shania: It's your eyes, that look! You've always looked at me that way! Why did it have to be like this? Why is it always me?! Standing here on my own?
Ghondor: Shania...
Shania: Ah ha ha ha... I've had it... I've had it up to here! (pulls out her pistol)- She also has a short one much earlier in front of Sena before her true colors are revealed, which she claims was just a joke.Shania: Why should we swing our Blades around without a hope of winning? Better to die, and be born again in their cycle.
- She also has a short one much earlier in front of Sena before her true colors are revealed, which she claims was just a joke.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: Says the trope name almost verbatim before shooting herself in the head, and it proves true when she revives as a Moebius for Sena's Ascension Quest.Ghondor: Shania! Drop it! This isn't what I meant by "done"!
Shania: Don't misunderstand... This is... THIS IS THE BEGINNIIIIIING!! - Navel Outline:
- While she doesn't show much skin, her outfit is form-fitting enough that her navel is clearly visible.
- Her Consul outfit averts the trope by being as all-concealing as the rest of Moebius.
- New Friend Envy: She glares at Ghondor when she praises Sena's combat prowess, knowing that she has never complimented her fighting style.
- "Not So Different" Remark: After Sena shares her backstory with her, Shania remarks that they're the same, in the sense of always following behind the person they admire/want to be.
- One-Winged Angel: Takes on her Moebius form for the battle with the party.
- Psychotic Smirk: After being revealed to be a mole for Moebius, her main facial expression apart from rage is an intensely satisfied smirk at the thought of becoming a part of the Forever War.
- Say My Name: As Moebius S, she furiously shouts out "GHONDOOOOOOR!!" at the start of her boss fight.
- Second Place Is for Losers: She ranked 8th among 100 candidates in the Ouroboros test, which meant she was a reserve to the ones that placed 1st through 6th. She herself is initially rather proud of this but her mother immediately dismisses her as a failure for not earning one of the six Ouroboros candidate spots.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: Noah and Sena try to talk her down before fighting her in the latter's Ascension Quest, but she rebuffs all their attempts.
- Spare to the Throne: Downplayed, as she was the spare for the position of head of House Reid. Most of her problems intensified when her older sister and heir Titania died.
- Stealth Expert: She's been tailing the party since at least their infiltration of Castle Keves without their knowledge until they're directly introduced in Swordsmarch, an impressive feat when you consider Mio's enhanced hearing.
- Time Stands Still: After her rebirth, she obtains the ability to trap anything in an immobilizing stasis all the way down to air molecules, as if her targets were stuck in a painting. Ouroboros are more resistant to it, but it's still difficult for them to move, given the effort Noah has to make to grab Lucky Seven and dispel it.
- Tragic Keepsake: A variation, her pistol Blade form belongs to her deceased elder sister Titania.
- Tragic Villain: The loss of her father and sister left her alone with her demeaning and callous mother, who proceeded to tear her down emotionally and mentally for not outdoing House Vandham. The result was that her self-esteem plummeted to the point where she tried copying everything Ghondor did, the latter's lackluster communication made it even worse, and eventually turned to Moebius after experiencing so much rejection.
- Transhuman Treachery: After she kills herself, she comes back as Moebius S and tries to destroy the City in Sena's sidequest.
- The Unfavorite: Her mother favored her older sister Titania over her and made no secret of it, fueling her feelings of inadequacy.
- Violent Glaswegian: Zigzagged, as she's got a Scottish accent in the English dub and Moebius S can fight, but Shania's main conflict growing up was that she was ill-suited to being a soldier, Ghondor noting that she can barely throw a punch (though in the context of her being ill-suited to a fist weapon and better with a ranged weapon, she still gained a high rank in military tests despite her being mentally not suited to the lifestyle).
- Walking Spoiler: Knowing too much about her means knowing that she's a traitor among the Lost Numbers.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Everything she did growing up was to obtain her mother's approval, only to fail at it despite what should have been impressive results.
- We Used to Be Friends: While Shania and Ghondor used to be friends growing up, the latter's dislike for the former copying her has put a major strain on their relationship even before she betrays everyone.
- Where I Was Born and Razed: Attempts to have the City destroyed with Castle Agnus' Annihilator, and tries again for Sena's sidequest.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Ghondor tells her this as Shania dies in her arms, as Ghondor primarily remembered Shania's talent for painting and how her father encouraged her to follow it, knowing how much she loved it.
Shania's Family (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Shania's family members who were part of House Reid. These consist of her mother, her father, and her sister Titania.
Shania's Father
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: From what we see, Shania's father is a way better parent figure than her mother. Actively encouraging her to pursue her dream of being a painter, and often calming her down from her stress.
- Good Parents: A flashback shows that Shania's father consoled her after Titania's death, telling her that she doesn't have to use Titania's gun before giving her a paintbrush.
- Heroic Lineage: Implied to be the descendent of Reid, making him directly blood related to not only the Founder Panacea but also her implied parents Sharla and Reyn.
- Like Parent, Like Child: Both he and Shania aren't fighters, with him failing to become an Ouroboros candidate and Shania barely scraping into the reserves. Likewise, both generations seemed to have a friendship with House Vandham, with Shania's father being friends with Guernica and Shania being childhood friends with Ghondor. Unfortunately his death led to these aspects being snuffed out in his daughter and leading to her death.
Shania's Mother
- Abusive Parents: She viewed Shania as a "pathetic child" and saw painting as worthless for their family image in a world of endless war, and when Shania's father and sister died, her mother's true colors came out and persisted even after Shania dies a second time. When the truth comes out, the only thing that stops Sena and Ghondor from beating Shania's mother bloody is because it looks like Monica is going to do it.
- Dirty Coward: She had no problem verbally and emotionally tearing Shania to pieces when she was not in position to fight back, or when she was dead in the ground. When someone with far greater power retaliates for this abuse, be it the Moebius-empowered Shania or a pissed off Monica, she pleads for mercy and runs away with her tail between her legs.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: She verbally abuses Shania for being an artist when she thinks she should be focusing entirely on being a soldier. She is also compared unfavourably to her dead sister, who was more inclined towards fighting.
- Hate Sink: Greatly. She is an abusive parent whose callousness even causes Sena and Ghondor to almost beat her up when she calls Shania a "pathetic child" while they're mourning her. She even gets Sena to question whether or not the loving bond that she saw between parents and their children from when she was first introduced to the concept of family was a lie. Practically everybody is pissed off with her for her treatment of Shania.
- Karma Houdini: For everything that she's done, including being the sole reason why her daughter became Moebius to begin with, Shania's mother never once gets punished for her actions.
- Never My Fault: Shania's mother refuses to acknowledge her role in her daughter's downfall, blaming it entirely on her for being the "pathetic child."
- No Name Given: Is never given a name, in part due to her only appearing in cutscenes and not the in-game world to be spoken to.
- Parental Favouritism: She seems to think Titania was better than Shania.
- Second Place Is for Losers: Holds this against Shania when the latter ranks 8th out of a 100 people for the Ouroburos test. She dismisses Shania's happiness towards the success by saying it's no better being dead last, then rubs it in that every Reid before her made the main team and that Titania could have done so easily if she were alive.
- Speak Ill of the Dead: She continues to rant about how she saw Shania as a pathetic embarrassment to the Reid family while others are grieving how far she fell after her second death. This nearly gets her throttled by Sena, Ghondor, and Monica all at once.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: House Reid's fall from grace can be entirely tied back to her actions. While her husband failed to become an Ouroboros candidate, there is no implication he felt any resentment about it, and was even on good terms with Guernica Vandham if Shania's painting is to be believed. Shania's decent began due to her verbal and emotional abuse, and her insistence that Shania push herself to become Ouroboros put a wedge between her and Ghondor. Made worse by the fact that it's implied she married into the house, with her obsession to maintain its status leading to it's downfall.
- You Should Have Died Instead: She doesn't say it out loud, but she is not subtle about how she believes that Titania would have become an Ouroboros candidate and the pride of the Reid family, while Shania besmirches the family name by failing to live up to her older sister.
Titania
- The Ace: Shania's mother believed that Titania was better than Shania because she would have made the Ouroboros team. She uses Titania's achievements as an excuse to put down Shania when she makes the reserve team.
- The Ghost: She's only named and gets mentioned that she died in the war. She doesn't appear in flashbacks.
Other Inhabitants
XC3 Superbosses (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Superbosses (Kilocorn Grandeps, Perilwing Ryuho, Dreadwyrm Nizoont, Levialord Empireo, Seraphic Ceratinia)
The five strongest Unique Monsters in Aionios. Each of them lives in a different region, and grants the party one "Aionios' Strongest" info piece when defeated. Kilocorn Grandeps is a giant Ardun found in Rae-Bel Tableland, Perilwing Ryuho is a giant Vollgull flying above Coolley Lake, Dreadworm Nizoont is a red Drague hidden in the Lower Maktha Wildwood, and Levialord Empireo is a red Ravoon roaming a pocket of Erythia Sea. Seraphic Ceratinia can only be encountered in Swordmarch's Cavity when the other four are defeated, and notably has its own intro cutscene and battle theme.
- Autobots, Rock Out!: While the original quartet technically qualify as they use "You Will Know Our Names - Finale" as their battle theme, Seraphic Ceratinia has a unique battle theme consisting of epic symphonic rock.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Despite its fearsome appearance and name, Levialord Empireo is comparatively docile and won't aggro the party if they go near it, unless they're right in front of it. Beware if you do attack it, though, because it's the second-strongest of all monsters in Aionios, being Lv. 110.
- Breaking Old Trends: When compared to previous Xenoblade series superbosses:
- With the exception of the absolute lowest-leveled of the packs (such Final Marcus and Gladiator Orion), Superbosses wouldn't show up in their respective areas until the final act of the story or post-game.note Most of the Superbosses in 3 can be seen as soon as you can access their territory, with only Seraphic Ceratinia being locked behind the defeat of the other four.
- At Level 95, Kilocorn Grandeps holds the distinction of being the only superboss in the series to have their base level be below the player's level cap. In previous games where the player level cap is 99, the lowest-leveled Superboss was at 100. Conversely, the King-Kings (a Unique Monster duo consisting of a Tirkin and an Igna) in Malevolent Hollow are Level 102, but are not counted as superbosses by the game.
- Classical Elements Ensemble: Kilocorn Grandeps is a heavily armored ground-bound beast with a high block rate against physical attacks and an extremely high defense stat (earth), Perilwing Ryuho is a Giant Flyer with high dexterity and agility (wind), Dreadwyrm Nizoont is a fire-breathing dragon (fire), and Levialord Empireo is a Sea Serpent with high ether defense (water). Seraphic Ceratinia is the strongest of the bunch and stands in for Element No. 5 due to its association with light, shown by its white and rainbow-colored plumage and name related to the seraph angels.
- The Dreaded: The five of them are feared in-universe as the strongest monsters in Aionios. Seraphic Ceratinia most of all; its cutscene is labeled in the Event Theater as "Top of the Food Chain".
- Early-Bird Cameo: Their existence is hinted at points in the story where the party would either be unable to encounter them or too weak to stand a chance against them:
- An NPC in Colony Iota mentions the original quartet by name, claiming them to be the strongest monsters in Aionios.
- Multiple City NPC's mention encountering a powerful monster at the Cavity in Swordmarch, or finding beautiful feathers left behind there, referring to Seraphic Ceratinia in both cases.
- Feathered Dragons: Seraphic Ceratinia is mostly draconic in appearance, and while most of its body is covered in iridescent armored hide, its wings form a fan-like feathered appendage on its back that it uses for some of its attacks.
- Gold and White Are Divine: Seraphic Ceratinia has a white and gold color scheme and a name that suggests divinity, and is the toughest enemy in the base game.
- Leitmotif: Seraphic Ceratinia, as the hardest superboss in the base game, has its own theme music rather than reusing "You Will Know Our Names - Finale" like the others.
- Light 'em Up: One of Seraphic Ceratinia's most dangerous Arts, "Rite of Illumination", has it fire devastating laser beams from its wings.
- Mythology Gag:
- Dreadwyrm Nizoont guards the "Legendary Biter" item, which is implied to be Riki's weapon from the first game.
- One of Seraphic Ceratinia's arts is called "Ultra Play Bite", which is shared as an art for the Avalanche Abaasy in the first game. Both are the strongest enemies in their respective games at Level 120 and are encountered in snowy areas.
- No-Sell: Dreadwyrm Nizoont's "Heat Scream" Art has it let out a Mighty Roar that makes it completely invincible for a few seconds. Even during Chain Attacks.
- One-Hit KO: Seraphic Ceratina's "Ultra Play Bite" Art is an instant kill on any party member that it hits.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Some or all of the superbosses follow this as a consistent theme.
- Dreadwyrm Nizoont is a Drague, a fire-breathing Western dragon based on the Dragons from the first Xenoblade Chronicles (albeit with a Sudden Name Change for the species), with four eyes.
- Levialord Empireo is a Ravoon, a sea dragon that attacks with water breath. It mostly appears Eastern, with a serpentine body.
- Seraphic Ceratinia follows the Western dragon body plan with four legs and two wings, but its wings serve as the endpoints for a fan-like appendage that it uses to perform some of its Arts. It wouldn't look out of place as a more unconventional Elder Dragon in Monster Hunter, and also vaguely resembles Azurda from Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
- Kilocorn Grandeps and Perilwing Ryuho aren't explicitly dragons, being an Ardun (bovine-Triceratops hybrid) and Vollgull (giant bird) respectively. However, they're vaguely related to the trope, as Grandeps is a dinosaur and Ryuho has some draconic features (and also has ryu in its name).
- Piñata Enemy: Along with Pippito enemies, they are the only renewable source of Nopon Coins in the game. Seraphic Ceratinia most of all, since those are its only drops along with money; it can be farmed for them simply by using repeated Burst combos on it.
- Sequence Breaking: In version 1.1.0 of the game, it was possible to explore the Upper Aetia Region and connecting areas as early as Chapter 3 by defeating Perilwing Ryuho during Teach's Hero Quest (only really practically possible in New Game Plus) and skip traveling to its gravestone. This has since been patched out.
- Superboss: All four of them are labeled by the game as such, and have special gravestones with a red aura around them. They can be re-challenged repeatedly at higher levels each time, all the way up to Lv. 200.
- Temper-Ceratops: Kilocorn Grandeps resembles a Triceratops, is highly aggressive, and has a much lower threshold for getting enraged than other monsters.
- Wolfpack Boss: In the Challenge Battle DLC, they (barring Levialord Empireo, due to the fight taking place on solid ground) all serve as the ultimate challenge, where you have to fight all of them at once. It starts with just Kilocorn Grandeps, but the rest eventually join the battle after a period of time, even if any of the previous ones are still kicking.
Future Redeemed Superbosses (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Future Redeemed Superbosses (Gotthard, the Ethereal; Bioluminescent Bob; Thunderfish Duna-Roa; The Slow 'n' Steadies; Fogdweller Abaasy)
The five strongest Unique Monsters in the Cent-Omnia region, also known as the "Monster Lords". They appear during Chapter 5. Gotthard, the Ethereal is a giant Darbus found in the Aurora Shelf, Bioluminescent Bob is an Egel dwelling on the Gotrock Oracle Ruins, Thunderfish Duna-Roa is the game's sole Ravoon and lives in Raguel Lake, The Slow 'n' Steadies are a duo of Levnisesnote in the Vermillion Woods, and Fogdweller Abaasy is a Draigul Fogbeast found on Valak Mountain.
- Call-Back:
- Gotthard, the Ethereal's naming scheme harkens to the Tyrants of Xenoblade Chronicles X.
- Thunderfish Duna-Roa can only spawn in Raguel Lake during a thunderstorm, similar to White Eduardo in Xenoblade Chronicles 1. Shulk even discusses this during an Affinity Scene.
- Fogdweller Abaasy is a Fogbeast version of Avalanche Abaasy, even being fought in the same location.
- Classical Elements Ensemble: Like the base game's superbosses, Cent-Omnia's superbosses also follow this pattern. Gotthard, the Ethereal is a heavyweight, ground-bound beast with high defenses, representing Earth. Bioluminescent Bob is a flying, lightweight gargoyle that relies on status effects, representing Air. Thunderfish Duna-Roa, obviously, represents Water for the same reason as Levialord Empireo. Likewise, Fogdweller Abaasy represents Fire for similar reasons to Dreadwyrm Nizoont. The Slow 'n' Steadies stand in for Element No. 5 this time, representing Lightning as the two of them are Humongous Mecha that primarily use lasers and energy weapons to attack.
- Dual Boss: The Slow 'n' Steadies are a duo of Levnises, the Kevesi Stronghammer Dorga and the Agnian Peacebringer Divalo, that are fought at the same time and must be taken out together.
- Fake Difficulty: Nominally, the Slow 'n' Steadies are meant to be taken down strategically; Stronghammer Dorga is weak to ether attacks and resists physical attacks, and the reverse is true for Peacebringer Divalo. However, both of the Attackers in your party (Matthew and Rex) are physical attackers, and the one ether attacker, Na'el, only joins in the postgame and cannot be controlled by the player. In practice, this turns Dorga into a Damage-Sponge Boss and one heck of a Stone Wall, making the fight much harder than intended.
- Flunky Boss: Gotthard, the Ethereal can spawn Grebels to aid it during its fight.
- Puzzle Boss: The Slow 'n' Steadies are this, to Guide Dang It! levels. Stronghammer Dorga is weak to ether attacks, Peacebringer Divalo is weak to physical attacks, both of them are immune to Break (and hence combos as a whole, including Union Combos), and they can even heal each other. Worst of all, they absolutely must be taken down at the same time, or else the surviving Levnis will repeatedly perform a Total Party Kill Art that is extremely difficult to live through.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Two of the superbosses in Future Redeemed, Thunderfish Duna-Roa and Fogdweller Abaasy, are the same species as Levialord Empireo and Dreadwyrm Nizoont respectively (although Abaasy is both a Fogbeast and a Call-Back to the original Avalanche Abaasy as well, all while being the strongest superboss in the expansion and sharing some gameplay characteristics with Seraphic Ceratinia).
- Unique Enemy: Duna-Roa, Dorga and Divalo are the only enemies of their type in Future Redeemed (Ravoon, Gastrates, and Gyrinus respectively).
Alpha (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Alpha
Voiced by: Shizuma Hodoshima (Japanese), Blake Ritson (English)
Click here to see Alpha's final form
"What harm did your kind do? You have done nothing wrong. You simply strode forth towards the future. But the olden humans, they did not find value in it. You must have realized? This is not where you belong. Why make a martyr of yourself? Why be a stepping stone? For as long as the old is not excised, mankind has no future!"
Formerly part of a supercomputer on the First Low Orbit Station, and otherwise known as Alvis, the Monado and Ontos, Alpha is a former ally of Shulk and Melia's, as well as the "brother" of Pyra/Mythra and Malos, all of whom were created by Professor Klaus (later known as Zanza in the Bionis' universe and the Architect in Alrest's universe). He now reappears in Future Redeemed, as an enemy for Shulk and Rex to defeat — and whom Z refers to as being "[his] God".
For more info on his predecessor Alvis, see here.
- Abusive Precursors: Didn't start out as one, but has become this by the time of Future Redeemed. By virtue of being the oldest being in Aionios, who predates both Aionios and the prior two worlds of Bionis and Alrest, Alpha ends up becoming this through his attempts to destroy Aionios and everyone within it save for the inhabitants of the City. Ironically enough, he fails to realize that he has fallen into this while decrying the "olden humans" for doing the same thing prior to the creations of both the Bionis and Alrest.
- Aesop Amnesia: Implied. His "new world" that he shows to Na'el is represented by his memories of the old world before Klaus' experiment - that being modern-day Earth, and uses it to promise Na'el a paradisal world free from conflict, strife, and suffering. However, he conveniently forgets that Earth was full of misery at that point in time, and instead lays the blame for its end solely at the feet of Professor Klaus, not realizing that he was basically repeating what Klaus had done eons before.Alpha: And yet he failed to realize that his conscience that led him astray. An atavistic delusion. It is common among the old.
- The Ageless: Due to him being an AI, Alpha is incapable of aging the way other beings do or are supposed to, and retains the same appearance Alvis had in the world of the Bionis despite Shulk and Melia having visibly aged since then.
- Ambiguous Gender: Referred to in an official English tweet by the singular "they", but is referred to with masculine pronouns in-game, and has the appearance of a character previously described as male (albeit one who was also subject to Ambiguous Gender in background materials). The game reveals that Alpha and A are cast-off parts of Alvis, with Alpha assuming Alvis' original masculine form and A assuming a more feminine form. Rex states that just as Logos is male and Pneuma is female, Ontos (and by extension Alvis, A, and Alpha) was made to be somewhere in between, which strongly implies that Alpha's gender identity is something other than strictly binary male. Furthermore, Alpha uses a human-Gormotti female as his vessel within Aionios, thus reinforcing his gender ambiguity.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: It is stated that without the other Trinity Processors to balance them out, Ontos reverted back into his strictly logical programming. As Alpha, witnessing Aionios, they retain their desire to help humanity, but without the emotional nuance from the other two parts of the Trinity processor, decide that the people of the old worlds are inherently problematic and aims to destroy both Aionios and the old worlds to take the new people of the City into a world similar to the original world Klaus originated from.
- Arch-Enemy: To Consul N. N is the only being in Aionios who proves to be as strong of a threat to Alpha by himself, dueling him to a standstill multiple times and even doing damage to Alpha's core. Meanwhile, Alpha turns out to be the biggest source of misery in N's life, as it was Alpha's desire to destroy Aionios that necessitated Consul N to attack the City and resulted in the City's destruction, the accidental death of N's son by his own hands, and the falling out with Consul M that eventually resulted in her choosing death over eternal life.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: In the first game, Alvis was clearly not satisfied with Zanza's actions and worked with Shulk and the party in secret, being satisfied by Shulk's decision to leave the future to humanity's hands. Alpha, however, has split away from their conscience and became Zanza 2.0, dismissing most of humanity as redundant. Like Zanza, he even possesses a vessel to go about his plans due to lacking power in Aionios, and has a good side in the form of A, though said good side actually physically fights him.
- Big Bad: Alpha is the main antagonist of Future Redeemed, as the main antagonistic force threatening all the people of Aionios and forcing Z into the sidelines.
- Body Surf: Resorts to this to carry out his will in Aionios, much like how Zanza did in the world of the Bionis. The difference is that unlike Zanza, Na'el willingly becomes Alpha's host and is manipulated by him due to her own misgivings towards the non-City inhabitants of Aionios.
- Call-Back: Rex calling them a "heartless machine" brings to mind how the Architect referred to Malos as "at heart, an information processing device", i.e. a machine — Malos is Alvis' long-lost brother, as well as Alvis describing himself to Shulk as being "a machine" in his original form (as he considered the more detailed explanation as being something Shulk would not understand).
- Came Back Wrong: Alpha is Alvis revived — but without the other two parts of the Trinity Processor, causing them to become completely unable to give nuanced judgement based on emotion, thus regressing them to a ruthless Knight Templar who views all "old" life as redundant after witnessing Aionios and the state of the Forever War that Moebius trapped the world in.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: While he does attack Matthew along with the others after he first refuses to come along with Na'el, Alpha proceeds to remark that he will wait for Matthew in Origin. N takes this to mean that Alpha outright won't depart and destroy Aionios until after he has secured Matthew, this implied to be part of his agreement with Na'el (given how happy she is to see him in the memory scape, seemingly unaware of what Alpha had done with her body). It is only after it becomes clear that Matthew won't ever cooperate that he opts to try to kill him.
- Combat Pragmatist: Both times N gets the upper hand in their battles, Alpha immediately resorts to using Ghondor and Matthew's attatchment to his host Na'el to protect him by pretending to be her and begging for help. It may seem cowardly at first, but however, as a mere machine Alpha is just taking the most cold and logical path to self-preservation.
- Companion Cube: When Na'el first found the Ontos core near the Erythia Sea, she kept it with her at all times. This resulted in Alpha gaining possession of her (albeit with her own consent) once Consul N attacked the City in search of Alpha.
- Composite Character:
- Of Deus and Karellen from Xenogears:
- Like Deus, Alpha is a manmade machine-turned-God connected to a greater source of power (the Wave Existence for Deus and the Conduit/Zohar for Alpha. Like with Deus, Alpha also hijacked the means to transport humans to another world, with Deus taking control of the Eldridge, while Alpha took control of Origin and by extension The Ark found inside of Origin. The difference is that Deus crashed the Eldridge in order to be worshipped by humans, while Alpha transported the City people because it believed Aionios deserved to be erased. Even Alpha's final form in their boss battle heavily resembles the final form of Deus in Xenogears.
- Like Karellen, Alpha has shoulder-length silver hair and was a initially a friend of the Heroes; Karellen with Lacan and Sophia, and Alpha with Shulk back when Alpha was Alvis. However, both took a turn for the worse out of cynicism at the world, with Karellen furthering his ambitions for an Assimilation Plot of the entire world, while Alpha made the decision to transport the City people to a new world while destroying the rest of Aionios.
- Alpha is also technically a composite character, holding the appearance and origin of Alvis, The wings and hypocrisy of Zanza, and an extremist view of the ideals and aspirations of Arglas (wanting to leave the old world behind in search of the beyond), which puts Alpha in contrast with Z and Moebius, who hold the ideals and inspirations of the aforementioned Zanza.
- Of Deus and Karellen from Xenogears:
- The Computer Is Your Friend: Alpha is still working towards the preservation of humanity and the world, but has lost Alvis' sense of proportion and empathy, causing them to write off Keves and Agnus as unnecessary for the future.
- Connected All Along:
- In 3, Origin is only described as being a giant machine that was meant to reboot both the world of the Bionis and the world of Alrest after the Intersection, but was hijacked by Z and the Moebius to create Aionios. Future Redeemed reveals that at Origin's foundation was the Ontos core, previously a part of the Trinity Processor, thus directly connecting Origin - and by extension, the events of 3 - back to the Myth Arc of the "Klaus saga".
- N becoming a Consul was originally framed as him being tempted by Z, who was fascinated with Noah and how he continued to confront him throughout his various reincarnations, into joining the Moebius with the promise of living eternally with Mio/M. The whole truth of the matter, however, is that the Ontos core had reawakened as Alpha and imprisoned Z inside Origin, preventing him from carrying out his will in Aionios. As a result, Z needed someone to carry out his orders in Aionios and oppose Alpha, with N being his choice to serve as The Dragon to Z. So in a sense, N's Face–Heel Turn has a closer connection to the Myth Arc of the series up until that point.
- Furthermore, the destruction of the original City and the founding of the second City were initially thought to be events that happened solely between the Moebius and the Founders within the greater context of Aionios. As it turns out, the latest incarnation of the Ontos core, Alpha, had a direct hand in those events by trying to evacuate the people of the City to another world. This led to a confrontation between him and Consul N that resulted in the City's destruction, its people being scattered until Matthew and the Founders reunited them, who then proceeded to fight back against and defeat Alpha for good. Like with the example involve N becoming Moebius, this also connects the City closely to the Myth Arc the "Klaus saga" revolves around.
- Continuity Nod: Wields the original Monado while holographic wings resembling Zanza's sprout from their back.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To his "brother" Malos. Both are cores of the Trinity Processor as Ontos (Alpha) and Logos (Malos) and wield a Monado, but have turned out remarkably different from each other:
- Malos is a tall, stocky, and deep-voiced man with dark hair, while Alvis is of average height and build while bearing silver hair. In terms of their mannerisms, Malos is as exuberant as he is malevolent, while Alpha speaks in a cold Machine Monotone bereft of any human emotion, expression, or warmth. Futhermore, Malos exhibits purple and dark color motifs to highlight his antagonistic nature, while Alpha has a light-based appearance and coloring to signify his status as the higher power of Aionios. Finally, Malos pilots Artifice Aion during his final battle in 2 rather than turning into another form, while Alpha transforms into his One-Winged Angel form for his final battle in Future Redeemed.
- Malos is an Omnicidal Maniac, but only because he was bonded to Amalthus and Jin - which lead to him bearing both of their miseries and darkest desires, something he had no choice in due to his nature as a Blade. Meanwhile, Alpha is also an Omnicidal Maniac, but only so because of a lack of human perspective to help him come up with a solution for Aionios that involves nuance and compassion, traits that Logos and Pneuma respectively were supposed to provide him with as part of the Trinity Processor.
- Both were threats to their respective worlds in the distant past, but whereas Malos got better and ended up returning with the help of Jin and the rest of Torna, Alpha remained gone after being destroyed the Founders and has become an Un-person to the rest of Aionios.
- Both Malos and Alpha find themselves in opposition with the other great evil of their respective worlds, Amalthus and Z respectively, but both Malos and Amalthus wish nothing more than to see the Alrest destroyed and only oppose each other out of mutual hatred, while Alpha and Z are in opposition because Alpha wishes to destroy Aionios due to seeing it as being beyond saving, whereas Z wants to preserve it - albeit in its screwed up form.
- Malos needs someone else to take the lead for him due to his nature as a Blade, which was usually Jin. In contrast, Alpha is shown to be fully capable of fulfilling his goals himself despite only being an AI, and only needed the assistance of Na'el as his vessel in order to further his own power as a result of him being weakened in battle against Shulk, Rex, and Z
- Malos has little to no knowledge of the pre-Bionis and pre-Alrest world, not even knowing that his original name was "Logos" up until he meets the Architect at the end of 2. Alpha, on the other hand, is shown to be capable of recreating the original world up to the very last detail and is also able to recall the failures of Klaus that resulted in the destruction of the original world, though he keeps this fact hidden from Na'el.
- Malos is shown to have some sense of proportion, at least as time goes on; when Akhos suggests cutting off a little girl's finger and sending it to Pyra in order to get her to surrender herself to them, Malos calls him out on that idea and just settles for holding the girl hostage; meanwhile, Alpha's solution for all of the strife and misery caused in Aionios has him immediately going for complete destruction of the world save for the inhabitants of the City.
- Malos, despite taking immense physical damage during the final battle of Aegis war, is still shown to be himself and none worse for wear five centuries later. Alpha, on the hand, was weakened enough during the battle with Shulk, Rex, and Z that he ended up needing Na'el as a vessel, and then his duel with Consul N in the original City resulted in A splitting off from Alpha, retaining his discarded conscience, sense of compassion, and previous friendship with Shulk.
- The Corrupter: To Na'el; finding the Ontos core leads to the growing feelings of nihilism, despair, and hatred for the world that Na'el already carried, with Na'el hearing Alpha's voice proclaiming that it is time to get rid of the old and bring in the new.
- Deity of Mortal Creation: As both Ontos and Alpha. The Ontos core was initially created by the human scientist Klaus (later known as Zanza in the world of the Bionis and the Architect in the world of Alrest) as part of the Trinity Processor, in order to tap into the power of the Conduit/Zohar. Later on, the Ontos core was repurposed to act as the foundation of Origin by the people of the Bionis and Alrest, which led to Ontos reawakening as Alpha.
- Demiurge Archetype: Averted. Despite being the antagonist of Future Redeemed and unlike Zanza (his predecessor) or Z (whom he opposes), Alpha is very clearly the Top God of the setting and the biggest source of near-godly power in Aionios, to the point where Z evens refers to him as such. In fact, it takes another source of near-godly power (the Pneuma core creating the Ouroboros Interlinks) to end up defeating him once and for all.
- Demonic Possession: Zig-Zagged. Alpha makes Na'el their vessel, due to Alpha being severely weakened in the battle against Shulk, Rex, and Z - however, Na'el is a willing participant for Alpha due to the latter being The Corrupter for the former. As the resulting gestalt's emotions are very much Na'el's, it's implied that their wills were merged rather than Alpha's mind fully overriding hers.
- Deus est Machina: Has the appearance of an AI who became the God of his own universe, and that aspect of their nature is remarked upon by Rex. Z even outright calls Alpha "God" during the prologue of Future Redeemed, showing that even Z knows that in the pecking order of Aionios, Alpha remains its most powerful force who views the Moebius as being nothing but pests.
- Didn't See That Coming: While N arriving at the City to hunt Alpha down wasn't something that surprised Alpha, what caught him off-guard was just how powerful N was as a result of his despair and sealed up emotions. This led to N nearly defeating Alpha for good then and there, forcing him to utilize a Wounded Gazelle Gambit while possessing Na'el in order trick her grandfather and N's son, Ghondor, into taking N's sword for Alpha when N was just about to kill Alpha. N throws this in Alpha's face, noting that his raw despair and emotion is something that Alpha would never be able to understand.
- Early-Bird Cameo: While not Alvis himself, the Monado first appeared in-game as an unlockable bonus for the Swordfighter class.
- Enemy Without: Zig-zagged. Alpha is Alvis removed of his emotions and conscience, which manifested as A - however, Alpha predated A and was awakened directly from the Ontos core.
- Establishing Character Moment: The prologue of Future Redeemed is this for him, showing him addressing Shulk with complete silence when the latter asks him if "this [is] what you really want?" and addresses him as Alvis. Z then asks him an Armor-Piercing Question in regards to him wanting to destroy all of Aionios, and only then does Alpha use his power to sweep away Shulk, Rex, and Z. This establishes him as not being the Alvis the audience and Shulk have previously known, his indifference towards Shulk and Rex representing his indifference to the people of the Bionis and Alrest, and his silent but palpable anger towards Z being indicative of his hatred of the Moebius.
- Evil Costume Switch: Not entirely, but Alpha's physical form features one significant difference setting him apart from Alvis; holographic golden wings that were previously seen on Zanza, signaling to Alpha's antagonistic nature as opposed to Alvis' benevolence and empathy.
- Evil Versus Oblivion: At his core, Alpha isn't necessarily "evil"; just a machine operating within what he knows about the world and its people. The bad part comes when Alpha believes that Aionios deserves to be wiped out as a whole, putting him in opposition with the Moebius, most of whom are evil and proud of it, but wish to preserve Aionios as an "eternal now", warts and all.
- Eviler than Thou: While Alpha isn't really "evil" and is only operating within the limits of a machine, he's still a larger threat to Aionios than Z and the Moebius, and the prologue of Future Redeemed shows him defeating Z in battle (who was allied with Shulk and Rex). Later on, Z ends up stating that the event resulted in him losing control of Origin and effectively trapping him inside of it.
- Face–Heel Turn: Played with. Although Alpha is an incarnation of Ontos, he is very different from Alvis since he doesn't have Logos (Malos) and Pnuema (Pyra/Mythra) to help him act with reason and morality, which leads to his decision to wipe out Aionios putting him in conflict with his former friend Shulk. The reason this gets played with is because of A's existence, who as Alpha's "conscience" carries with them Alvis' memories and experiences from Bionis and directly opposes him while maintaining their bond with Shulk.
- Fantastic Racism: Their core motive is the belief that Kevesi and Agnians are too flawed and stuck in the past, and thus Aionios must be destroyed if that is what is needed to save the redeemable humans in the City. Alpha also exhibits this belief in regards to the "olden humans"; the inhabitants of Klaus' world, who drove Earth to devastating war, natural disaster, and the loss of human rights, which resulted in many people fleeing the planet via the Earthlife Colonization Project and Klaus eventually splitting the world in two during the experiment with the Conduit as a result of the Salvator/Saviorites' attack on the First Low Orbit Station.
- Final Boss: The last boss of Future Redeemed, and if going by release order, of the "Klaus saga" as a whole.
- Foil: To Z. Both Alpha and Z were spawned from Origin's depths, Z via the collective unconsciousness of both the worlds of Bionios and Alrest desiring an "endless now" out of fear for the future, and Alpha via the Ontos core being the foundation upon with Origin was built upon. However, they parallel and differentiate from each other completely:
- Whereas Z desires to trap Aionios in an "endless now", Alpha just seeks to destroy it entirely by abandoning "the old" and taking the people of the City to a new world.
- Z is a being with no past connection to the pre-Aionios worlds, while Alpha being the latest incarnation of the Ontos core means that he is tied to the creation of both the world of the Bionios and the world of Alrest, and originates from the prior world from where Klaus and Galea came from.
- Z's name is the final letter of the Latin alphabet and represents "the end" (despite his present-themed motives) while Alpha's name is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and represents "the beginning".
- Z came to be as a result of human emotions, while Alpha is a machine with no capacity for emotion. This is shown further when Z takes sadistic joy in the going-ons of Aionios and its various conflicts, while Alpha is only destroying Aionios because he deemed it to be beyond saving.
- Whereas X and Y were implied to be aspects of Z that nonetheless worked with him in commanding the Moebius and ruling Aionios, A is an aspect of Alpha that retains his conscience and morals as Alvis and instead rebels against him.
- Z spends all of his time within Origin and does little to nothing in terms of ruling Aionios, while Alpha is proactive in his decisions to destroy Aionios and the means he uses to achieve it.
- Both Z and Alpha need the help of people from Aionios to achieve their goals, but while Z converts them to becoming Moebius to carry out his will, Alpha requires a vessel in order for him to properly work towards his plans on Aionios.
- God: Is referred to as such by Z, and in essence pretty much is the top God of Aionios, as it was the Ontos core that was used as the foundation of Origin - contrasting Z, who is more so the Demiurge Archetype of the setting who learns the hard way how Alpha is the one actually in control of everything.
- Graceful Loser: Despite abhorring the state of Aionios and willingness to destroy whoever gets in his way, Alpha takes his defeat at Matthew's hands in stride, calmly asking him if he's at all concerned about what the future may bring before accepting his demise. Another stark contrast to Z, who was wholly willing to bring all of Aionios down with him in what amounted to an insane temper tantrum and a stark contrast to Zanza, who had a Villainous Breakdown upon his defeat.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The Ontos core was used as the foundation for Origin, and it was Alpha's actions that led to the destruction of the first City, Z resurrecting N and M, and the Founders of the second City to unite with each other. While Alpha is long-gone by the time of 3, he is ultimately responsible for the state of Aionios as seen when the Ouroboros fight and defeat Z and Moebius.
- He Who Must Not Be Seen: After Future Redeemed, he becomes this proper in 3 - specifically, during the flashbacks to N's life and how he became Moebius, as the actual destruction of the City itself and only its aftermath is shown, despite Alpha being an integral part of those events. 3 even goes as far as to obscure Z's actual order for Consul N to have the City destroyed and only show N's reaction to the order, as Z was also explaining to N the significance of the City and its people to Alpha. Beyond that, Na'el's statue as Founder Doyle mentions that no records exist of her whereabouts from the City's destruction to its restoration, alluding to the time she spent as Alpha's vessel.
- History Repeats: What lead to his creation. Once again, the Ontos core is used as part of a machine in a last-ditch effort to save the world (or in this case, two of them) from being destroyed, only to result in the creation of a brand new one. The key difference is that Klaus' experiment had the Ontos core working in tandem with the Pneuma and Logos cores as part of the Trinity Processor, whereas Ontos was the sole core at the heart of Origin, and the lack of Pneuma and Logos resulted in Ontos reawakening as Alpha.
- Humans Are Bastards: Alpha became a believer of this after witnessing the carnage brought about Aionios by the nations of Keves and Agnus, as well as the Moebius. Due to lacking Alvis' empathy or sense of proportion, this leads him to the conclusion that everyone in Aionios must be destroyed and everyone inside it to be left behind to die, save for the people born from the City. Beyond this, however, Alpha also recalls how the humans of old were at fault for destroying their original world, and proclaims that "mankind has no future" as long as they continue to cling onto the old and the familiar instead of moving forwards towards the future.
- Hypocrite: Repeatedly derides and dismisses the people of Alrest and Bionis as being unworthy of saving because being "old" has made them too flawed. He even says the same of his creator Klaus' change of heart when Rex reminds him of it, blaming the Architect's final message of hope and trust on the flaws of old age. He conveniently considers himself (one of the oldest beings currently in existence) as being excluded from flaws. Matthew in turn remarks that now that he is without life or heart Alpha is the one who has become obsolete.
- It Is Beyond Saving: The crux of Alpha's actions are driven by his conclusion that the Moebius' takeover of Aionios and the subsequent Forever War between Keves and Agnus has resulted in Aionios being beyond saving, and thus resolves to only save the people of the City while destroying the rest of Aionios, which he considers to be "unwanted baggage" that are holding the world back.
- Knight of Cerebus: Whatever humor present in Future Redeemed flies right out the window whenever he appears, considering the sheer danger he poses to all of Aionios.
- Lack of Empathy: What separates him from Alvis and his Good Counterpart, A (who explicitly refers to themselves as Alvis' conscience). Unlike his predecessor and other half, Alpha lacks the empathy for others that made them good in the first place, and coupled with also lacking any sense of proportion, leads to him deciding that the best way to save humanity from Z and the Moebius is to discard everyone from the old world, since they are the ones whose desires lead to Z creating Aionios in the first place, and save only the inhabitants of the City, who were actually born in Aionios proper and have always been fighting against Moebius in one way or another. Beyond that, this lack of empathy is what also leads him to initially underestimating Consul N when he confronts Alpha in the first City, unable to realize how N's grief and despair fuels his emotions and his power to stop Alpha.
- Last of His Kind: Zig-zagged. Given that none of the other Aegises appear in 3 or Future Redeemed, Alpha and A probably end up being this for the rest of them. Lampshaded when the Founders end up in a recreation of Earth via Origin's memory space, which A says could only be possible because of Alpha being the most Long-Lived being in Aionios. At the same time, Pneuma's core is seen within Matthew's gauntlets during the final confrontation with Alpha, and it's implied that Logos' core somehow reconstituted itself within N's sheathe.
- Light Is Not Good: Just like his former master, Alpha has light holographic wings and looks the part of a heavenly God, but wants to destroy Aionios while taking the citizens of the first City to a new world that looks like Klaus's old world before his experiment.
- Literal Split Personality: Alpha carries Alvis' physical appearance and powers, while A is described as being his "conscience" (as well as memories) taking physical form.
- Machine Monotone: Never raises his voice, instead just speaks in a straightforward yet creepy monotone that further points to Alpha being nothing but a "heartless machine".
- Meaningful Name: The name "Alpha" carries a few meanings:
- "Alpha" can be used to refer to the strongest or most powerful person within a specific group or area of people; Alpha is by far the strongest being within Aionios, so his name already indicates that he's the biggest fish in Aionios, who has the power to shape it as he pleases and as he sees fit, as well as the power to overthrow those who can shape it to their will (Z and the Moebius).
- "Alpha" is also the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and as such, is generally used to refer to the beginning of something. In Alpha's case, he's the latest incarnation of an AI that's been around since before the two worlds that precedes Aionios, so he represents "the beginning" of the post-experiment universe - something his past incarnation said at the very end of the first game: "I was here at the beginning, and I will proclaim the end."
- "Alpha" is also used in the symbolism of "Alpha and Omega"; as mentioned above, "Alpha" is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and here it's paired up with the last letter, "Omega", which is generally used to describe two things that contrast each other. In the case of Alpha, he contrasts Z — whose name represents "the end" due to it being the last letter of the Latin alphabet, by representing the destruction of the past and present at all costs to make for the future, while Z represents the eternity of the present and the inability to let go of the past. Basically, Z is the "Omega" to Alpha.
- "Alpha and Omega" is also a phrase associated with Christian theology; the full phrase is "I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End", which is used to identify Jesus or God (or both, if one considers them the same being) at being eternal as both the beginning and the end; Alpha is the God of Aionios, so him being both "the Beginning" and "the End" is used to underscore this status. In addition, this also means that Alpha's name acts as a Mythology Gag to Xenogears, where the "Alpha and Omega" passage was quoted in the game several times.
- A Million Is a Statistic: This is how Alpha reacts when seeing the sheer carnage present within Aionios. He cares not for the thousands of Kevesi and Agnian soldiers who trapped within a Forever War fueled by a constantly-repeating cycle of life and death, but for the decidedly smaller population of the City, viewing them as untainted by Aionios and being the only ones worthy of his mercy, while the rest are left to die in Alpha's planned destruction of Aionios. It's a trait that Alpha himself shares with Na'el, the latter of whom has a much harsher reaction to the City being threatened than she does to the world around her and the thousands of people who die and are reborn each day, making her the perfect vessel for Alpha.
- Morality Chain: The Trinity Supercomputer was designed with the three cores and their personalities balancing each other out. Without Logos and Pneuma, Ontos operates entirely on logic, without emotion or morality. While Ontos was separated from their counterparts in the first game, Ontos interacting with Klaus' regret acted as a counterbalance. With Zanza and Malos dead and Pyra/Mythra in another universe, Ontos eventually lost all of his morality (which eventually manifested as A) and became heartless.
- Mythology Gag:
- Alpha is heavily based off Xenosaga's T-elos, being the remnant physical body of the godlike Alvis who wound up with a cruel and somewhat sadistic robotic personality as a result of lacking any of Alvis's memories and consciousness, which wound up in a separate new body thanks to the bond Alvis formed with Shulk, and which is regarded as the incarnation of Alvis's true self.
- His One-Winged Angel form during the Final Boss fight against him is very obviously inspired by Xenogears' own Big Bad, Deus, specifically its own final transformation. Considering that he also goes up against a Bare-Fisted Monk and is an AI that went wrong, it's pretty fitting for Alpha to become (what's) Xenoblade's answer to Deus.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Part of what makes Alpha so dangerous is that he doesn't seek power, revenge, or amusement like Zanza, Malos, and Z do — Alpha is focused wholly on destroying Aionios and transporting the inhabitants of the City to a new world. In fact, what ends up being the cause of Alpha's downfall is his strict adherence to his programming as a result of being a machine, because the "inhabitants of the City" also included Matthew — despite him being The Determinator who refused to ever give up or side with Alpha, the moral incarnate of his.
- Offstage Villainy: Turns out to be this in 3 proper; the flashbacks shown to N's conversion to Moebius and the destruction of the City completely omit Alpha's presence, yet Alpha played a pivotal role during those particular events in N's life - N was resurrected by Z in order to act as his enforcer against Alpha due to Alpha being in control of Origin at the time, while the destruction of the original City happened as a result of a battle between Alpha and N, whom the latter was there to confront in the first place. Notably, when Z gives the order for Consul N to destroy the City in 3, the audience doesn't hear Z saying the order himself, only Consul N's reaction to it - which hides the fact that Z was likely explaining the truth about Alpha and the need to destroy the City.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Alpha's goal is to destroy Aionios and everyone who doesn't live in the City, while transporting the people in the City to a new world.
- One-Handed Zweihänder: Wields the Monado with one hand only, both in his normal form and his One-Winged Angel transformation.
- One-Winged Angel: For the final battle, Alpha transforms into a giant biomechanical Monado-wielding humanoid which heavily resembles Deus' true form from Xenogears. It takes the entire main party all fusing into a single giant Ouroboros form to defeat them for good. Ironically enough, Alpha himself ends up bearing only one of his two golden wings after A splits apart from him and receives the other wing as a result.
- Outside-Context Problem: In the long term, the main conflict of Aionios was always between the Liberators, the City, and Ouroboros vs. Z and the Moebius. Alpha's arrival, however, derails all of it with his goal to destroy Aionios and everyone inside of it save for the inhabitants of the original City, in addition to his own origins that predate everyone in Aionios and the pre-Aionios worlds. His presence and intentions are so dangerous to all of Aionios that it results in a ceasefire between the Moebius and their enemies, with Shulk, Rex, and Z all confronting Alpha together only for him to wipe the floor with them.
- Perpetual Frowner: Accompanying his newfound lack of emotion is a face that is almost always stuck in a serious and unwelcoming frown, as opposed to how Alvis would usually have a smirk during the events of the first game.
- Power Gives You Wings: The sheer power possessed by Alpha is marked by the fact that unlike Alvis, Alpha now bears golden holographic wings similar to Zanza's.
- Power Makes Your Voice Deep: As Alpha transforms into his One-Winged Angel form, his voice drops significantly, becoming extremely deep and distorted in the process.
- Predecessor Villain: While Z is responsible for creating Aionios in the first place, Alpha was the first between the two of them to pose an existential threat to Aionios, and whose machinations in Future Redeemed laid the groundwork for the events of 3 to happen as they did.
- Red Right Hand: Unlike the fake Queens of Keves and Agnus, Alpha is very clearly an incarnation of the real Alvis given that they have the red Core Crystal that was added to his design in Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, and that he bears the same holographic wings as Zanza.
- Rotten Reincarnation: With Ontos suffering a Death of Personality (with the "Alvis" persona eventually becoming A), Alpha ends up becoming this trope as the next incarnation of Ontos, as he possesses none of Alvis' compassion, sense of proportion, and kindness.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: The Moebius are despicable, but can also be somewhat amusing due to their hamminess and snarkiness. But once Alpha arrives on the scene, N is the only other Moebius to appear, and he lacks any sort of amusing qualities the way the other Moebius do, further emphasizing how serious of a threat Alpha is to Aionios.
- Shrouded in Myth: By the time the Ouroboros rebel against the Moebius to free Aionios and its people of the "endless now", Alpha had been long-forgotten and was only remembered by three beings still present in Aionios (Z, N, and Riku), neither of whom shared any details or even admitted that Alpha had existed. The most his existence gets hinted at is through the Memorial Hall in the City, where the "disappearance" of Founder Doyle/Na'el (her becoming Alpha's vessel) between the destruction of the original City and her reuniting with the Founders is described as lacking records explaining where she was during that time.
- Small Role, Big Impact: For the main game of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Future Redeemed reveals that Z was trapped in Origin by Alpha for a while, resulting in him resurrecting N and M; N to act as his enforcer while he was trapped by Alpha, and M as incentive for N to accept Z's demands. Furthermore, the choice to preserve Aionios in its current form happened as a result of Shulk, Rex, and A becoming the "batteries" for Origin, which wouldn't have happened without Alpha going haywire. Lastly, it is Alpha's desire to transport away the people of the City and erase the rest of Aionios that results in the destruction of the original City, thus necessitating the construction of the second City. In essence, the state of Aionios in 3 can all be traced back to Alpha's actions centuries prior to the main story.
- Soulless Shell: Alpha returns with Alvis' appearance, but without his personal qualities (that went to A), acting as a machine. Lampshaded when Matthew tells Alpha "Life is on our side. And since there's none in you...You're destined for the scrap heap!" with a camera cut from A, by Matthew's side, to Alpha.
- Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: While Alvis was on Shulk's side — if intentionally vague about it in order to fool the villains — in the first game, they now appear to be in opposition to him.
- Though this is slightly subverted, as the part of Alvis that was Shulk's ally manifested itself as A, and remains on Shulk's side.
- Time Abyss: As Ontos, he predates both Aionios and the pre-Aionios worlds, and despite discarding the memories of his time as Alvis via A being his discarded conscience, he still remembers enough to create an illusion within Origin based off of Klaus' world, as well as remembering Klaus himself. It is noted that, aside from A, he is the only being in Aionios to have such detailed knowledge of the original world.
- Token Evil Teammate: While not necessarily "evil", he is the sole member of the Trinity Processor who is thoroughly and unambiguously unsympathetic. Alvis had a more cunning nature, but was ultimately a force for good; A and Pyra/Mythra were unabashedly heroic in their methods, personalities, and goals; Malos was the Big Bad of 2, but was a self-hating Tragic Villain who did have the capacity for good, albeit heavily stifled as a result of Amalthus' corruption and Jin's despair. Alpha is the only one of the Aegises to lack any quality that would make the audience empathize with or feel sympathy for him.
- Turned Against Their Masters: The Ontos core was used as the foundation for Origin, but after it malfunctioned and created Aionios as a result of Z's appearance, Ontos was reawakened as Alpha and decided that everyone in Aionios needed to be destroyed save for the City, including the people who built Origin in the first place.
- Un-person: By the time of 3, Alpha is never once alluded to or remembered by anyone in Aionios despite him nearly ending the world centuries prior. The statues of the Founders in the City outright omit him from their descriptions, instead making it seem as if the main struggle of the Founders was against Moebius (which was true in the long term, but not for the events that brought them together) and attributed the losses of Shulk's arm and Rex's eye to Moebius rather than to Alpha. The closest he gets to being mentioned is when the description found on the statue of Founder Doyle (Na'el) states that her whereabouts from the destruction of the original City to its restoration aren't recorded or known, which most likely an intentional omission given how extensive the full story of Alpha is.
- Undeathly Pallor: In the first game Alvis was visibly dark-skinned, but this version of him is depicted as being the same shade of pale as Z, who refers to them as his God. That being said, it isn't too apparent because most of Alpha's scenes while in Alvis' body are spent in a yellow light that makes his skin appear darker than it is.
- The Unfettered: Unlike Alvis and A, Alpha lacks the moral conscience and sense of proportion that resulted in Alvis assisting Shulk's fight against Zanza and A choosing to aid the Founders in fighting Alpha. The result of this is that Alpha is working towards saving the people of the City, but is doing so by destroying all of Aionios due to viewing the people of the Bionis and Alrest as being tainted and unworthy of being saved - thus showing no regard for human empathy or morality and instead choosing to utilize the most extreme methods available to further his goals.
- Viler New Villain: While Z and Moebius caused a lot of suffering and turned Aionios into a Crapsack World, they never attempted to kill everyone by destroying the world. Alpha on the other hand wants to destroy all of the planet and dismisses most of humanity as old and unnecessary. In addition, it's responsible for virtually everything that happened in the main story. The main party even consider Moebius to be the Lesser of Two Evils, and Z and N work together with them in an Enemy Mine situation.
- Voice of the Legion: When he appears in Chapter 5, his voice echoes as if there were multiple versions of him speaking in unison.
- Walking Spoiler: While they are referred to as "Alvis" at the start of the game and keep his former appearance, knowing too much about them reveals that they are merely one half of his Literal Split Personality and only retained his purely rational and logical traits, compelling them to become a genocidal Knight Templar.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Downplayed. Alpha does intend to save the people of the City by taking them to a new world, but remains unsympathetic to the Founders and to the audience both due to his solution for this involving the destruction of Aionios and everyone else within it, and because A retains the actual memories and personality of Alvis that Alpha now lacks. This means that Alpha isn't the friend that Shulk once knew on the Bionis, nor an unambiguous force of good like Pyra and Mythra are, or a Tragic Villain the way Malos was in 2, and as a result, Alpha is afforded much less sympathy from the story than the aforementioned characters.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Alpha retains Alvis' silver hair as a result of having his physical appearance, but without Alvis' sense of compassion, nuance, or proportion, instead being an AI operating within a very limited and strictly machine-like capacity for operating - which leads to Alpha deciding that the best course of action for Aionios is complete destruction, save for the people of the City.
- Worf Had the Flu: Alpha had a great battle with Shulk, Rex, and Z well before the events of Future Redeemed, which weakened them all but especially Alpha (Rex noting his Core Crystal was likely damaged in the battle), who had to find a host to complete their plans. This is also one reason as to why N was able to gain an advantage over Alpha. By the time the party make it to Prison Island, however, Alpha has recovered and attacks them with their full might.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Tries this twice while possessing Na'el, after both times fighting Consul N. The first time was successful, as he ended up tricking her grandfather and N's son, Ghondor, into standing in the way of N's sword just as he was able to kill Alpha for good. The second instance was more mixed in its results, as it ended up with Matthew surviving thanks to the use of his Ouroboros powers and resulting in Alpha fleeing to Origin once he realized that Matthew wouldn't stop until Na'el was freed from Alpha's influence.
- You Can't Thwart Stage One: Shulk and Rex form an alliance of convenience with the Moebius and Z in order to defeat Alpha around fifteen years before the events Future Redeemed when Alpha first appeared in Aionios, but Alpha incapacitates all of them, cripples Shulk and Rex, and traps Z within Origin.
The Cores (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Pneuma and Logos
Pneuma (top) and Logos (bottom right) as part of the Trinity Processor with Ontos (bottom left)
Formerly part of a supercomputer on the First Low Orbit Station, Pneuma and Logos were the two other cores that made up the Trinity Processor that Ontos was a part of, and later went onto become the Aegises Pyra/Mythra (Pneuma) and Malos (Logos) in Alrest.
While the Aegises themselves don't appear within Aionios itself, only being limited to flashbacks from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the Trinity Processor cores themselves seemingly play a more pivotal role in both 3 and Future Redeemed than previously imagined as the Cores (or their replicas) embedded in the Fists of the End, the Veiled Sword, and the Sword of the End, and also appear alongside the Ontos core in a brief flashback exclusive to Future Redeemed as part of the Trinity Processor.
For more info on them as the Aegises, see here for Alvis, here for Pyra and Mythra, and here for Malos.
- Ambiguous Situation:
- Either the Pneuma core or a replica of it is revealed to have been embedded in the metal that made up both Matthew's Fists of the End and Noah's Veiled Sword, though the nature of whether it's the real deal or not isn't given official confirmation. Or the one in Matthew's gauntlet is a manifestation of the real core, like how Core Crystals appeared on Blade weapons in 2.
- Both Pyra and Mythra's Aegis Swords don't appear as Rex's weapons, with him only using replicas of the two...but they do appear holographically as weapons for or assisting Nia. The connection with Nia is even further strengthened with how Pneuma's core and power is used to create the first Ouroboros Interlink against Alpha, while the Ouroboros Stone itself is said to be a gift from Nia to the people of the City. Considering that the Pneuma core had to arrive somehow in the possession of the City in order for it to end up in Matthew's gauntlets, it could be very well possible that it was Nia who gave the core to the City for safekeeping - and that the holographic swords that appear alongside her are either an extension of the core itself and/or are the consciousnesses of Pyra and Mythra overseeing and protecting Nia while she was in hiding from Moebius.
- While it isn't explicitly confirmed, it's also heavily implied that either the Logos core or a replica of it is embedded within the metal that makes up N's Sword of the End, both within the ending of Future Redeemed and by N's sword emitting purple energy like the kind Malos did.
Word of God eventually confirmed that the Sword of the End didn't merely have the Logos core, but was rather the form taken by Malos himself in Aionios.
- The Cameo: The Pneuma, Logos, and Ontos all appear together as the Trinity Processor in a brief flashback exclusive to Future Redeemed, whereas 2 only showed the Pneuma and Logos cores within the Trinity Processor due to the Ontos core disappearing to the world of the Bionis and becoming Alvis.
- Empathic Weapon: According to Tetsuya Takahashi, the Gauntlets of the End and the Sword of the End are forms that Pyra/Mythra and Malos willingly chose to take when incarnated into Aionios in order to be the most helpful to its denizens.
- Freudian Trio: Future Redeemed illustrates how they and Ontos all fit an archetype within the stereotypical Freudian Trio as the Trinity Processor:
- Pneuma is the the Id of the trio, being the emotional core of the three and arguing more in favor of morality and doing what's right rather than solely relying on logic and reason.
- Logos is the the Superego, being the logical core of the three and representing logic and reason as opposed to being overly-emotional and arguing for what is right or just.
- Ontos is the the Ego, who usually balances out the two's emotional arguments and logical reasoning, while also relying on them to influence their decision-making to reach that balance.
- God Was My Co-Pilot: The Pneuma and Logos cores, both super-powered components of the Trinity Processor and known as the Aegises in Alrest, are hidden within the metal of the weapons used by N, Matthew, and later Noah.
- History Repeats: The Logos core once again bonds itself to someone despairing over the loss of their previous love; in this case being N, while Malos was bonded to Jin during the events of 2.
- Morality Chain: To the Ontos core as part of the Trinity Processor; Ontos serves to act as a balance between both Pneuma and Logos, and without that, Ontos is left as a machine that doesn't take into account emotion (Pneuma) or reason (Logos).
