Characters / Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - The Founders

Due to the nature of Future Redeemed as a prequel, all spoilers for the main story of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Main Character Index | Ouroboros | Heroes | Inhabitants of Aionios (The Founders) | Moebius (Consul N)

The statues honoring each house's founder.^note Clockwise from top-left: House Doyle, House Rhodes, House Ortiz, (Mentor of) House Cassini, (Mentor of) House Reid, House Vandham.

The six founders of the City's current incarnation and their allies, who rebuilt the original City and regathered its survivors after Consul N destroyed it one thousand years before. While long-dead by the events of the main game, their story is the focus of Future Redeemed.

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The Founders

After the destruction of the original City around a thousand years ago, four survivors became Ouroboros alongside a Kevesi and an Agnian, and sought a place to build a new City. The six — Rhodes, Cassini, Vandham, Doyle, Reid, and Ortiz — founded the current City the Lost Numbers reside in today. In addition to specific personal contributions, the six Founders are the progenitors of the Six Families, who remain powerful and influential to this day.

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In General

• Ambiguously Related: Both in-universe and out:
  • In universe, by the time of the main game, the people of the new City have forgotten exactly how the Founders were related. In particular, Founder Vandham and Founder Doyle are specifically stated to possibly be brother and sister... but it might have just been a sign of how close they were. "Future Redeemed" confirms that they were/are brother and sister.
  • Zigzagged, as the nature of Aionios and the cycle of reincarnation makes it tricky to determine who is related to who. It is at least confirmed that Nikol is an incarnation of Shulk and Fiora's son; likewise, Glimmer is confirmed to be an incarnation of Rex and Pyra's daughter. Meanwhile, Matthew and Na'el are known to be the descendants of N and M, who were Noah and Mio in a previous life; and Mio is implied to be the daughter of Rex and Nia, making Matthew and Na'el descended from Rex too, which would also make Glimmer their several-times great-aunt.
  • Even Riku - the secret 7th founder - had his heritage ambiguous, as since he says his father journeyed with Melia, people weren't sure if he was one of Riki's many children from 1, or a child of Riki's adoptive son Kino from Future Connected. The official artbook clarifies this ambiguity and states it's the former.
• Ambiguous Situation: By the time of Future Redeemed, Aionios is already well over a century old, yet Shulk, Rex, Panacea, and Linka are people born in the old worlds who were not assimilated into Origin. It's unclear if they only appeared in Aionios relatively recently, or if everyone who came in directly from Alrest or the Bionis possesses some form of immortality as a rule the same way Melia, Nia, and Riku did in the base game, which means it's possible that these four are much older than they look, and that Panacea and Linka might even still be alive by the time of the base game.
• Back from the Brink: N razed the original City at Hope's Rest, leaving two known survivors (though as Future Redeemed reveals, it was more than two survivors and N's involvement is only half of the story). Today, the City boasts the largest population of any settlement on Aionios — dwarfing even that of the Castles — and is physically larger in area than several Colonies put together. It's also the only place on the planet where people are born naturally and live past 20.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Matthew and A have this dynamic, with Matthew typically committing all kinds of humorous errors while A corrects him, sometimes with a hard knock to the head.
• Call-Forward: All of the Founders all reflect on how their respective houses are presented in the main game:
  • House Vandham leads the City against Moebius, refusing to back down, looking towards a better tomorrow, and freeing the soldiers of Keves and Agnus from the Flame Clocks even when it puts their lives at risk. Matthew similarly led the Founders, was such a threat to Moebius that he earned a reputation for hunting them down, always felt sympathy for the enslaved soldiers, and freed Nikol and Glimmer from their Flame Clocks just as Guernica did for the main party.
  • House Doyle is one of the more conservative houses, focused on keeping the City safe and opposing Vandham's continued hostilities towards Moebius. Na'el was perfectly happy to let things stay the same and not challenge Moebius if they didn't threaten the City, and clashed with the ideologies of her brother for always trying to do more rather than be content with what they had.
  • House Cassini is composed of free spirits that, while not actively opposing Moebius, also have no issue joining the fight, simply preferring to have people living life to its fullest. This reflects Rex's free-spirited nature and desire to just make people happy, and Linka's more supporting role working to the same goal.
  • House Reid are rivals of House Vandham, fighting alongside them against Moebius while still opposing them politically. Panacea was an incredibly dedicated soldier while also being extremely critical of others, working with the Founders as needed but never hesitating to call them out when they made mistakes.
  • House Ortiz are noted to be staunch allies of House Vandham, being the main house that stands with them against Moebius, and developed much of the technological advancements used by the City. While somewhat awkward, Nikol formed a close friendship with Matthew and willingly put his life on the line to support others, be it with his skill in combat or intellect with machines.
  • While we know the least about House Rhodes, it's stated that they act as a neutral party between the other Houses, not favouring or opposing any particular side regarding City politics, instead heading the medical facilities and keeping peace. Glimmer struggled the most working with the other Founders and often found herself at odds with them, but was ultimately dedicated to the cause and provided aid as a healer.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character:
  • In contrast to the party of the main game, whose Kevesi tended to be more proactive and take the lead, and be the first to initiate their Ouroboros Interlinks, it's the Agnian half of the party who tend to be more Hot-Blooded and aggressive with their actions, while the Kevesi half is content to be more passive and steer their hands.
  • Narrative-wise, the Ouroboros group of the main game have few ties, implied or otherwise, with important characters from the first two numbered games. Here, four of the Founders are implied to be the children of the heroes from the past games, and two of the main playable cast are returning characters. Three, if A is considered to be the same as Alvis.
  • In the main game, the six main characters are Soldiers from Keves and Agnus, the storyline largely revolves around liberating Colonies, and we see Aionios through the eyes of teenagers. In Future Redeemed, four of the party (not counting Panacea, Linka, and Na'el) are Citizens or Liberators (with the two Soldiers being the children of Liberators), much of the storyline is focused on rebuilding the City, and we see Aionios largely through the eyes of adults.
• Contrived Coincidence: Shulk's son Nikol and Rex's daughter Glimmer encounter each other, are freed from their Flame Clocks, and then encounter their fathers. Rex is flabbergasted that this all happened basically at the same time.
  Rex: I guess we're bound together by fate. Like it was meant to be.
• Ensemble Cast: As with the main party, while Matthew is the face of the team, the story divides its focus relatively evenly among all six of the characters, with each one getting prominent moments to themselves.
• Experienced Protagonist: Even more so than the main cast, which was already comprised of experienced soldiers. Matthew and A are introduced as having already defeated Moebius on several occasions; when a confrontation with Moebius actually happens, it's revealed the two have gained a reputation as "Moebius Hunters", a reputation they live up to by defeating and killing two Moebius with ease. A also effortlessly destroys two Flame Clocks in an instant. Likewise, Shulk and Rex have become highly skilled veterans after saving their respective worlds; furthermore, in Aionios they've been co-leading the Liberators for an unspecified amount of time. Notably, the most inexperienced party members are Glimmer and Nikol, who are treated as children — despite being equivalent in experience to the main cast at the beginning of the main game (and even then, they are nearing the end of their lifespan, meaning they have been training/fighting for most of the last ten years).
• Famed In-Story: The Lost Numbers work to honour their legacy, as they prevented an outright Moebius victory just by surviving, and then became Ouroboros to fight off more Consuls and establish a new City.
• Family Theme Naming: Matthew and Na'el are siblings, and both of their names can be interpreted as meaning "gift of God" in Hebrew.
• Flawed Prototype: In comparison to the Kevesi and Agnian trio Ouroboros from the main game, the Ouroboros of Future Redeemed aren't able to Interlink due to their powers having yet to be fully developed. Instead, they manifest their Ouroboros powers via Fusion Arts, which produces a ghostly being resembling the Interlink forms. The Founders (sans Panacea and Linka) plus Shulk and Rex, however, do manage to pull off a combined six-way Interlink at the end of the story expansion to defeat Alpha, paving the way for the more refined Interlink seen in the main game.
• Generation Xerox: Most of the descendant characters look like the spitting image of one of characters from the past first two games who are implied or confirmed to be their parents.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: As far as the new City is concerned, the Founders reunited the survivors of the first City after N destroyed it, who is mentioned as being their primary enemy. Future Redeemed reveals that this was a massive case of Suppressed History, as their fight was mainly focused around defeating Alpha and preventing him from destroying Aionios, while N was more of an aloof enemy of an enemy who ended up aiding the Founders more than he opposed them — and as it turns out, the destruction of the City happened as a result of N being sent to kill Alpha, rather than him being assigned to wipe out the City. Finally, Alpha himself is completely omitted from any historical records, as are his connections to the pre-Aionios worlds, and the world that preceded those worlds.
• Happily Adopted: Founder Reid's mentor is said to have not been tied to her by blood, but to have raised her as if she was his own child.
• Heroic Lineage:
  • Guernica, Monica, and Ghondor Vandham are descendants of Founder Vandham, and he and Founder Doyle were themselves descended from some of the first inhabitants of the City.
  • Garett and Julietta descend from Founder Doyle.
  • Shania descends from Founder Reid.
  • Masha descends from Founder Cassini.
• Hero of Another Story: The Founders used their Ouroboros powers to fight against Moebius and helped found the second City. Their story (as well as what happened to Shulk and Rex) is shown in Future Redeemed. On that note, there's also Shulk and Rex, who served as the main protagonists of this game's predecessors.
• History Repeats: Ortiz and Rhodes were Kevesi and Agnian soldiers respectively who were poised to kill each other until a chance encounter with a Vandham who gave them the power of Ouroboros, just like the six Ouroboros members would clash as enemies before their chance encounter with those from the City, centuries in the future.
• Identical Grandson: Matthew and Na'el bear heavy resemblances to their great-grandparents, N and M respectively. In the main game, when Noah and Mio (who are alternate versions of N and M respectively) see their statues during their time in the city, they note just how similar they look to the people portrayed in the statues.
• Missing Mom:
  • Matthew and Na'el's parents died 15 years prior to Future Redeemed, during the last big fight against Moebius.
  • Zigzagged with Nikol and Glimmer's parents. While neither of them even know what a parent is, their respective fathers Shulk and Rex are present throughout the main story, but their respective mothers Fiora and Pyra are nowhere to be seen — though it's heavily implied that Fiora's soul is stored inside Lucky Seven along with the rest of the cast from the first game sans Shulk and Melia, while the Pneuma core is shown to be embedded within Matthew's gauntlets, which are implied to eventually be reforged into Noah's own sheathe for Lucky Seven.
• Multinational Team: The playable party is quite diverse, featuring one member each from every major setting in the series: Matthew (the City), A (Klaus' world/Earth), Nikol (Keves), Glimmer (Agnus), Shulk (Bionis), and Rex (Alrest).
• Mythology Gag: All of the Founders share a resemblance with characters from the previous games:
  • Founder Ortiz looks remarkably similar to his father Shulk; he also shared Shulk's mastery of engineering, having built his own weapon, and was responsible for the mechanical systems in the City.
  • Two to Shion Uzuki from Xenosaga:
    • Founder Rhodes was described as being "gentle and kind at heart" and that "her skill in the healing arts greatly contributed to the development of medical science in the City in later ages" — two qualities associated with Shion.
    • Founder Doyle, on the other hand, wears similar clothing to Shion in Episode III; those being stockings, short-shorts, and a jacket. Like Shion, Doyle was the younger sister of a black-haired warrior with a Samurai Ponytail.
  • Founder Reid's mentor Shulk was a composed but fierce warrior who used a bright red sword in the battle against Moebius, and continued to fight even after losing his right arm. He has longer hair similar to the Architect, a cape worn over his prosthetic arm similar to Dunban, and an outfit resembling one of Jin Uzuki's from Xenosaga.
  • Founder Cassini's mentor Rex has a missing eye, stocky build, and cape-like outfit which reference Zeke von Genbu from 2, while his wielding of two weapons at once recalls Vandham and Mòrag.
  • Founder Vandham has a ponytail and is noted to fight with his fists, looking very much like Fei Fong Wong. Him being a martial artist from the distant past could also bring to mind Lora.
• No Name Given: Despite Founders Reid and Cassini choosing to honor their mentors by erecting statues in Memorial Hall, the names of their mentors are not explicitly addressed until Future Redeemed.
• The Not-Love Interest: Whereas the Ouroboros pairings for the main party of 3 usually indicated some form of romantic attraction, the same doesn't seem to apply for the default Unity pairings in Future Redeemed:
  • Matthew and A are each other's closest allies, and the two constantly bicker like an old married couple. But due to Matthew's laser focus on his quest and A's true identity, there are no romantic interactions seen between them.
  • While Nikol and Glimmer are recently-liberated Aionios soldiers who bond over their shared experiences, and thus have the making of a Love Across Battlelines couple just like most of the romances in the main game, they're not shown to have romantic interest in each other. The base game implies that, although their descendants remained friends, they ultimately married other people when founding their separate houses.
  • Shulk and Rex aren't supposed to be a romantic couple for reasons that should be exceedingly obvious. That said, they're genuinely fond of each other beyond a mere workspouse relationship, and they support, tease, and advise each other in ways that evoke Foolish Husband, Responsible Wife and other classic marriage dynamics.
• One Degree of Separation: Bordering on Everyone Is Related, but the exact details are intentionally left vague. Of the six Houses, two have connections to Shulk^note with him being the mentor of Founder Reid, and Founder Ortiz being his son with Fiora and the remaining four to Rex^note with Founders Vandham and Doyle being his possible descendants via Mio/M, Founder Rhodes being his daughter with Pyra, and him being the mentor of Founder Cassini. Future Redeemed directly shows Matthew and A's chance encounter with Nikol and Glimmer as the two were fighting each other.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: The original names of the Founders were apparently lost to time, being remembered only as the Founders of their respective Houses. Founder Vandham's name is Matthew, Founder Doyle's is Na'el, Founder Ortiz's is Nikol, Founder Rhodes' is Glimmer, Founder Reid's is Panacea, and Founder Cassini's is Linka.
• Precursor Heroes: They founded the second (and current) City after the original was destroyed by N. Monica and their statues describe them as the first Ouroboros, though this isn't actually the case; Future Redeemed shows that the citizens had Ouroboros abilities, but they were unable to Interlink (Matthew's grandfather claims his parents were on the verge of achieving this, but sadly died before they could). Although Matthew and the others did accomplish an Interlink, it was achieved with six people and clearly unrefined as the Interlink form is translucent, though this achievement would spur Founder Ortiz and the Seventh Founder to refine the Interlink process with the Ouroboros Stone, likely explaining why the current City believed the Founders were the first and original Ouroboros.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: In Future Redeemed, the Kevesi members of each duo tend to be more quiet and reserved than their Hot-Blooded and hot-tempered Agnian counterparts. Fittingly, the "blue" Kevesi also happen to be two Defenders, while the "red" Agnians are Attackers.
• Shrouded in Myth: Many details of the Founders are left ambiguous, though some are expanded upon in Future Redeemed.
  • Little is known about Founders Reid and Cassini or their roles in developing the City, largely because they chose to dedicate their statues to their mentors instead of themselves. While they appear in Future Redeemed and have side quests and dialogue dedicated to them and their characters, they are Out of Focus compared to the main party, which includes their mentors.
  • Not much is known about the Founders in the present day outside of their names and that they refounded the City. Not even their statues are much help, as two of the Founders chose to honor their mentors rather than have statues of themselves made, and one Founder chose to have an Ouroboros Stone representing them instead of any statue at all.
  • The seventh founder is the most enigmatic, as the only evidence of their existence is that the original plans for Memorial Hall meant to include them where the Ouroboros Stone Cage now stands. Historians speculate that the seventh Founder chose to remain hidden. Future Redeemed reveals that the seventh founder was Riku, who helped advance the Ouroboros Stone.
  • No one knows what happened to Founder Doyle between N destroying the first City and finding the other Founders. Future Redeemed shows that Na'el was a vessel of Alpha from the first City's destruction up until the final battle against Alpha in Origin.
  • Founders Rhodes and Ortiz lived into their 80s... despite having been part of the Flame Clock system, which should have killed them at the end of their tenth Term, over sixty years prior. Future Redeemed reveals that Shulk and Rex gave them normal lifespans as a parting gift before becoming part of Origin.
• Sibling Team: Founder Vandham and Doyle were said to have been brother and sister, and fought together to bring Ouroboros to completion.
• So Last Season: In Future Redeemed, the original City inhabitants weren't as interested in honing their abilities as Ouroboros as Ghondor and his grandchildren were and instead focused on improving their combat ability with Blade amplifiers. Jethro, a City refugee, subverts this attitude and even laments their foolishness when he sees Matthew's Ouroboros power in action, wishing he had taken Ghondor's lessons more seriously.
• Time Abyss: A technically came into existence soon after N's attack on the City, but is composed of the memories and experiences of Alvis, who has existed since the time of Lost Jerusalem, before the Bionis and Mechonis or Alrest came into being.
• Two Girls to a Team:
  • Averted and inverted. The Memorial Hall pays tribute to six Founders with four male statues and two female statues. However, the statues for Reid and Cassini depict their male mentors instead of the Founders themselves, which means that the Founders were a team of four women and two men.
  • Averted with the main party members in Future Redeemed: there are four men (Matthew, Nikol, Shulk, and Rex), one woman (Glimmer), and an androgyne (A).
  • Although they don't take part in battle with the group, Linka and Panacea balance out the numbers by being constant guests with the party, and being prominent in the storyline and cutscenes once the full group is assembled.
• Vague Age: Matthew, Na'el, Shulk, and Rex's ages are listed as "???". It's somewhat understandable for the latter two, whose time in Aionios is deliberately kept ambiguous. Meanwhile Matthew and Na'el have the appearance of young adults in their 20s, but are old enough to regard Glimmer and Nikol, who are almost 20, as still children, and are also implied to have been involved in a fierce battle with Moebius fifteen years ago, which would imply them to be in their 30s or more.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Glimmer and Nikol are both in their 10th terms, and a point of contention for the former is initially feeling that her remaining life has been rendered pointless by Matthew inadvertently making her an Ouroboros. After they come to terms with their situation, part of why they want to fight Alpha is to make their last term mean something in the long run. It's later subverted at the end of Future Redeemed, where Shulk and Rex remove their life tattoos before they and A become Origin's new battery; according to their statues, Glimmer and Nikol ended up living well into their 80s.

Individual Tropes

Founder Vandham

Founder Matthew Vandham

Class: Martial Artist
Blade: Ouroboros Knuckles
Role: Attacker

Voiced by: Jun'ya Enoki (Japanese), Rory Alexander (English)

The City's Restorer

"You've got no need to take life anymore, nor fear its loss. You got it? You're done."

The founder of House Vandham, Matthew Vandham is credited as being the main restorer of the City; he fought and ousted Consul N following the destruction of the original City, before embarking to parts unknown. His descendants would return to the City centuries later, but no other records exist of the person himself.
After surviving the destruction of the City and being nursed back to health by A, the pair set out searching for other survivors and his sister Na'el, during which he interrupted Nikol and Glimmer's fight to the death and freed them from their Flame Clocks.

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• Ambiguously Related:
  • Seeing as Noah and Mio are his great-grandparents, and Mio being implied to be Rex and Nia's daughter, this would make Rex directly related to him (albeit distantly).
  • Glimmer is also implied to be Rex's daughter (with Pyra), which would make her Mio's half-sister and Matthew's great-grandaunt.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: Raging Force has a chance of ignoring the enemy's defense.
• Armor-Piercing Response: In his argument with Na'el in Chapter 5, the latter dismisses the inhabitants of Aionios and calls them things, only for Matthew to correct, saying they are not "things" but human lives like them. This leaves her stunned, allowing Matthew to further lay into her by pointing out that neither of them would even exist without Noah and Mio, a Kevesi and Agnian respectively. This is what ultimately helps him get through to his sister and help break free from Alpha's influence.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: He was said to have mastered the art of fistfighting, and is seen wearing gauntlets in the Story Expansion teaser.
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • Matthew marks the first time in the Xenoblade Chronicles series that a "Vandham" has not only been a playable character^note Vandham in 2 was playable, but died at the end of his chapter, and a permanent party member,^note Monica and Ghondor are permanent Hero party members in the base game of 3, but can't be played as, but the main character of a story.
  • He's the first male protagonist of a Xeno game in general to not undergo some sort of mental trauma or identity crisis; the most trauma he endures is having to watch his grandfather die, but Matthew proves to be incredibly resilient and doesn't let his grandfather's death prevent him from searching for City survivors and his sister.
• Boisterous Bruiser: While not The Big Guy of the team, he has many of the familiar characteristics from his hotblooded nature and his larger than life personality.
• But Now I Must Go: Leaves on a journey to find other city survivors at the end of Future Redeemed. As revealed in the main game, his descendants would not return to the City until centuries later.
• Cat Boy: Downplayed in comparison to his sister, but he does have Gormotti ancestry. This manifests as human ears with cat-like pointy tips and more pronounced fangs.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: If Matthew has one thing that can be said about him, it's that he's very quick to help those he thinks need it. Not only does he stop Nikol and Glimmer from fighting, but he goes out of his way to try and save Glimmer once she leaves in the night, and is very keen on searching for the survivors from the City. A can't help but get a bit annoyed that he does so, but Matthew doesn't hesitate to help people when he feels the need to.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character:
  • Unlike his direct inspirations, Fei and Noah (his eventual successor/ancestor), who were both very melancholy Reluctant Warriors, Matthew is a very upbeat, optimistic, and Hot-Blooded fellow.
  • Prequel character in this instance. Unlike his great-grandfather Noah, who was far more calm and level-headed while also being part of the cycle of death and rebirth by virtue of being a Kevesi soldier, Matthew is from the City and is more like Lanz in that he prefers the direct approach. Also unlike Noah, who manages to find a way to reconcile with N, Matthew spurns and denounces them even after learning the full story as to why N attacked the City, though he does express some hope that N might one day redeem himself.
• Cynic–Idealist Duo: Composes this alongside his sister, with Matthew being the idealist. While both he and Na'el are well aware of how awful Aionios is, Matthew never blames the soldiers of Keves and Agnus as he understands that they're just slaves to Moebius and seeks to free them all, while Na'el grows to see them as nothing more than selfish and bloodthirsty monsters and has no problem leaving them to their fate so long as the City folk are left in peace. This allows him to resist Alpha's influence in the final battle while Na'el accepts it, as while he can't stand the nature of Aionios he believes it can change for the better.
• Determinator: Pretty much nothing can get Matthew to the point of a Heroic BSoD. Even after finding out Na'el was being used as Alpha's host, he's still dead-set on freeing her from Alpha's control and is willing to punch his way through just about anyone and anything in order to do so.
• Expy: Matthew is arguably an even more blatant one of Fei Fong Wong (at least in appearance) than Noah himself, given that he sports a near-identical hairstyle to Fei, is a Bare-Fisted Monk, and the seeming catalyst for his story is a masked figure playing a role in the destruction of his home, just like the start of Fei's journey. His attacks even use the same exact animations as Fei Fong Wong, in contrast to Ghondor's version of the Martial Artist class fighting more like a boxer. This is further reinforced when the party Interlink in the finale to defeat Alpha, and it resembles Noah's Interlink, itself based off the Weltall, and is used against a Deus-inspired foe.
• Generation Xerox:
  • Matthew has the same class, fighting style, and headstrong attitude as his descendant Ghondor.
  • As Ghondor was N's (i.e. Noah's) son, Matthew takes strongly after his grandfather in his youth, as well as his great-grandfather.
  • Just like Guernica, Matthew interferes with a deadly battle between a Keves soldier and an Agnus soldier by punching the ground with enough force to separate them.
  • Like with his implied great-great-grandfather Rex, Matthew is a jovial fellow who makes friends with almost everyone he meets, travels with an Aegis, and eventually gains deep knowledge of the world that came from the worlds of the Bionis and Alrest. The first two traits are also shared by his implied ancestor by way of Rex, Addam Origo.
• Heroic Lineage: Averted. He's the great-grandson of Noah and Mio, or more specifically, the great-grandson of the Noah and Mio who became N and M, the former of which eventually destroyed the first City and killed Matthew's grandfather. Played straight with Matthew's own lineage as Founder Vandham, which includes Guernica, Monica, and Ghondor Vandham, and his implied great-great-grandparents on Mio's side, those being Rex and Nia — and in the case of Rex, it might extend as far back as his own implied ancestor, Addam Origo.
• Idiot Hero: Played with. Matthew acts on his emotions most of the time without even thinking — even in situations where it would get him and the rest of the party in trouble. For much of the game, he's singularly focused on getting Na'el back without thinking of any of the ramifications. That said, he can come up with clever ideas sometimes, as seen in one quest where he suggests they use temporary, portable Remembrance Stones to honor their fallen comrades until it's safe to set up permanent ones. And while he may be a bit clueless at times, he shows a lot of emotional maturity compared to his sister, and is surprisingly insightful about his view of people and the world when confronting her. Additionally, Matthew figures out pretty quickly the "eternity" N was promised when he became Moebius also meant bringing Mio back as one.
• Invulnerable Attack: Matthew is guaranteed to evade attacks while performing Revolt Uppercut.
• The Leader: Generally credited as being the leading force of the Founders and their quest to rebuild the City. Although he's a bit of an Idiot Hero, he's able to rally the others together and unify the group better.
• Leeroy Jenkins: A's profile describes Matthew as the kind of person to thoughtlessly rush in battle, with the more calculating A being responsible for reining him in. His Talent Art also encourages an aggressive rushdown playstyle.
• Lightning Bruiser: Just like the base game's Martial Artist class, his Arts hit hard and charge fast, and his skills let him randomly keep the recharge after use, allowing him to spam them in quick succession. His Talent Art "Gigantic Beat" also restores the recharge for all of his Arts at once, has a rapid recharge rate, and hits very hard.
• Made of Phlebotinum: It's revealed near the end of the game that Matthew's Ouroboros Knuckles are partially made of Origin metal, explaining how he's able to destroy Flame Clocks and Moebius cores with them like Lucky Seven. That's not even going into the fact that said Knuckles also carry Pneuma's Core Crystal, with the souls and wills of Pyra and Mythra.
• One-Man Army: In one Affinity Scene, A and Matthew recount how the latter once took on an entire Kevesi colony who attacked them and won, destroying their Ferronis with his fists.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Matthew is the hot-blooded red to A's more logical calculated blue.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Much like Noah, Matthew has a Biblical name. In the Bible, Matthew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, and the name itself means "gift of God".
• Samurai Ponytail: Like with Noah and his various incarnations, Matthew sports a thin ponytail, thus adding to his Fei Fong Wong-like appearance (albeit more wild and untamed compared to Noah's more sleek and slender-looking one).
• Shared Family Quirks: Amusingly, he shares both his great and great-great grandmothers traits of sleeping sprawled on his back.
• Shrouded in Myth: After he helped create the second City seen in the main game, Matthew left to find the remaining survivors of the first City. Exactly what happened to him during this journey is unknown as none of his friends saw him again, though his descendants would eventually arrive at the City centuries later.
• Spam Attack: Matthew's gameplay is focused on constant attacks, either normal melee hits that get quicker as he attack's, or uses his arts to spam them quickly. The result is that Matthew can chain his arts together quicker than most other characters, even resetting the cooldown by simply using it, letting him deal a ton of damage quickly.
• Special Person, Normal Name: Matthew has probably the most mundane name of all of the Xenoblade protagonists (with Noah coming in second), resulting in an Aerith and Bob situation with his sister and virtually every other party member.
• Status Buff: Energy Boost grants him power charge. He also gains fast charge if it's fused with Mighty Strike, while fusing it with Revolt Uppercut grants nearby allies power charge.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He takes a lot after his great-grandfather Noah, including his Samurai Ponytail. His grandfather Ghondor also looks like a much older version of him.

Founder Doyle

Founder Na'el Doyle

Class: War Mage
Blade: Ether Accelerator
Role: Attacker

Voiced by: Akari Kitou (Japanese), Ellie Kendrick (English)

"With or without Moebius, nothing will change... in the end, people always kill people..."

The founder of House Doyle, and Matthew's younger sister. She was separated from her brother after surviving N's attack on the City.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Exactly how much of her actions throughout the DLC are hers or Alpha's is up for debate. Her interactions with Matthew in Chapter 4 imply it's Na'el in the driver seat, but her demeanor and actions are more reminiscent of Alpha's mannerisms. In Chapter 5, Na'el greets Matthew warmly when he arrives in Origin and says he "finally made it" with no mention or acknowledgement of fighting him in the previous chapter, implying Alpha was in control of her body.
• Anti-Villain: Na'el is a major antagonist of Future Redeemed, and while she is the host of Alpha, the AI makes it clear that he uses her because of her existing desire to see the old worlds die and for the new people to thrive. Na'el is not evil, she's just willing to buy into Alpha's idea of a new world... despite it ultimately not being any different from the world she hates.
• Black Mage: A purely offensive ether-based Attacker, whose abilities allow her to cast multiple debuffs on opponents.
• Cat Girl: Like her ancestors, she has the cat-like ears of a Gormotti.
• The Chosen One: A dark variant. Alpha specifically picked her to be his vessel out of everyone else in the City. When Shulk and the others question why Alpha picked her, Rex suggests Na'el was chosen because of her Alrestian heritage and reasons her being a Blade made her the most compatible, since Alpha is technically a Blade himself by virtue of being the "third Aegis".
• The Cynic: A flashback of Na'el and Matthew shows her to be much more pessimistic and nihilistic about her world than her cheerful brother. After Chyra's death and outburst after seeing a new group of Kevesi and Agnian deserters enter the City, she laments how — with or without Moebius — people will continue to kill one another. This leads to Alpha using her as a host, similarly to how Zanza used Shulk, with Alpha promising her a new world — one similar to Earth prior to Klaus' experiment.
• Cynic–Idealist Duo: Composes this with her brother. Compared to the more idealistic Matthew, who understands that even if the world is awful it can be made better, Na'el can't stand Aionios at all, be it Moebius or the warring nations, who she sees as nothing more than violent savages that want to take everything away from the new generation. This makes her the ideal host for Alpha, as she shares his belief that everything in Aionios should be left behind for the sake of those from the City, even if it means erasing the innocent victims of Moebius from existence. She even calls out Matthew on his beliefs in a grief-fueled rant after the death of Chyra by a colony of starving Kevesi soldiers.
  Na'el: Matthew... Always in fantasy land.
  Matthew: What...?
  Na'el: You can't keep every bloody person happy! How can you not understand it's impossible?!
  Matthew: The only true end is the moment you give up. Isn't that what Grandad taught us?
  Na'el: Then show me already! This world of peace... where no one has to die... Make it come true! You think you can do that, do you?! You think you've got what it takes?!
  Matthew: I, I... (resigned sigh)
  Na'el: Well I don't... I'm barely holding on! You hear me!
• Cynicism Catalyst: While she was already cynical regarding helping people outside the City, Na'el was still as hopeful for the future as Matthew was. Her tune quickly changed when she and Matthew arrived at the village where Chyra was staying, only to find it destroyed and its inhabitants slaughtered by starving Kevesi soldiers. Seeing Chyra's body disappear in her arms sends her into the Despair Event Horizon and leaves her open for Alpha to later manipulate.
• Demonic Possession: A rare instance in which Na'el allowed the possession to happen in the first place, having bought into Alpha's sales pitch of taking the City refugees to a new world while leaving Aionios to burn and allowed him to take over her body, or at least take refuge within her as his new vessel. That said, it's implied she was not aware of what he had been doing with her body, as when they reunite in Origin's Memory Scape she makes no mention of the previous violent encounter between Alpha and Matthew.
• 11th-Hour Ranger: She ultimately joins the party in the final phase of the Final Boss fight against Alpha, and is available as a Hero in the postgame.
• Expy: Of Shion Uzuki. Her outfit is very similar to Shion's outfit in III; and, like Shion, she was trained by her grandfather in martial arts alongside her black-haired older brother. Her nihilistic despair over the death of the City's children causes her to be a magnet and amplifier for Alpha's desire to destroy all of Aionios, just as Shion's despair over her parents' death triggered the arrival of the Gnosis, who heralded the destruction of the Lower Domain.
• Failed a Spot Check: While A implies Na'el already knew something was up with Alpha's sales pitch of his promised "new world", she would have already figured out his promises would have led her to a world arguably much worse than Aionios if she had listened to the radio, which mentions the failure of protecting human rights...which is probably the least screwed up thing on pre-Conduit Earth, given that the radio mentions Dmitri Yuriev.
• Foil: She serves as one for Shulk, exhibiting many of his pre-Character Development traits as a contrast to his older, more open-minded self. Like Shulk, she lives in a world that is constantly under threat of extermination by outside forces, eventually becoming traumatized into a vengeful xenophobe after losing someone close to her in an enemy attack. She becomes chosen as the vessel of Ontos (or at least, the half it mimicking Zanza's will), which pushes her to become a messianic figure who plans on annihilating all of the enemy for the sake of protecting and avenging her people. However, whereas Shulk's Black-and-White Morality biases were mainly rooted in ignorance and ultimately overturned by contact with the Machina people from the other side, Na'el is a hardened warrior who already grew up with deconverted members of the Child Soldiers army besieging her city and whose ethnocentrism is more ideological in nature, essentially representing Shulk if he stuck to his darker urges, and it ultimately requires her brother Matthew to combine forces with Shulk and their other friends to defeat her in order to convince her to fight for a future that accepts all people.
• Freudian Excuse: Less one for her, but more for her successors. House Doyle's staunchly conservative stance in the present can be traced back to her not wanting to risk the City's survival picking a fight with Moebius, especially that of the children. This is in part due to an incident where a City camp, including a child Na'el was close to, were wiped out by Kevesi soldiers, causing her to Take a Level in Cynic.
• Friend to All Children: One of the cutscenes from Future Redeemed shows a flock of young children coming to her due to her kind nature. It's the death of Chyra (who she's implied to be the closest to), at the hands of Kevesi soldiers, that causes her Cynicism Catalyst.
• Gender-Blender Name: Nael/Naël is a real name in France, albeit it's typically one for boys, being derived from either an abbreviation of the Breton "Gwenaël" (white-haired, fair) or of the Hebrew Nathanael, which shares the same meaning of "gift of God" as Matthew does.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Na'el is designated by the game as a Hero, and thus isn't playable in the handful of times she is present in battle including the post-game. However, unlike every other Hero, she is playable in one instance when fighting against N (although technically, you are playing as Na'el possessed by Alpha).
• Heroic Lineage: Averted. She's the great-granddaughter of Noah and Mio... or, more specifically, the great-granddaughter of the Noah and Mio who became N and M, the former of which eventually destroyed the first City and killed Na'el's grandfather. Played straight with her implied great-great-grandparents on Mio's side, those being Rex and Nia — and in the case of Rex, it might extend as far back as his own implied ancestor, Addam Origo.
• Horrible Judge of Character: This and her Despair Event Horizon are why she buys into Alpha's sell into bringing the City citizens to a new world resembling pre-Conduit Earth while leaving Aionios behind and left in dust and ashes, describing Alpha as a man with "kind eyes". That said, A implies Na'el knew on some level Alpha purposely didn't divulge what became of pre-Conduit Earth in its final days prior to Klaus's experiment. When confronted by a vision of the Crapsack World Alpha's "new world" really is, Na'el tries to deny it, albeit weakly.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: Skilled in martial arts, and fights via a combination of mostly close-range ether magic and kung-fu moves.
• Light Is Not Good: When acting as Alpha's vessel, Na'el wears a predominantly white outfit with Ontos' Core Crystal on her chest.
• Meaningful Name: Na'el is a Biblical Hebrew name with multiple meanings, one of which is "deliverer"; Na'el wishes to deliver the people of the City to safety, and away from the dangers of Aionios. Another possible meaning of Na'el is "gift of God" (stemming from it being an abbreviation of "Nathanael") to match the fact that "Matthew" means the same thing, although it should be noted that this version of Naël is typically given to boys.
• The Not-Love Interest: Matthew and Na'el are the primary male and female character duo of this game, and are deliberate counterparts to Noah and Mio, with the primary plot being about Matthew's efforts to find and rescue Na'el. Flashbacks show the two attempting to unlock the power of Ouroboros together, when Ouroboros powers were often connected with romantic developments in the main game, and the antagonist attempts to exploit the two's close bond against each other. In contrast to Noah and Mio however, the reason for their closeness is because they are brother and sister, rather than love interests.
• Precursor Heroes: They are the protagonists of the first two games and heroes from long past whose deeds are no longer remembered by most of the soldiers due to the way time operates in Aionios.
• Production Throwback: Her design is very similar to an unused concept art for Nia, who is heavily implied to be an ancestor of hers.
• Punny Name: While her name does have religious meaning, the name also sounds like the Greek word for "meow". Quite fitting for someone whose ancestors followed a similar naming convention.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Ne'elatama'uk is one of several names variously ascribed to the wife of Ham in apocryphal texts; in the Book of Jubilees, where this name appears, she is swept away during The Great Flood for being wicked. Fittingly, she becomes Alpha's host and acts as an antagonist until she's freed from its influence.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: With an enraged yell, she slaughters the squad of desperate Kevesi soldiers who murdered the people who had tried to start a second City, all before Matthew and the others can even enter the fray. She then cries out to the world demanding to know why Keves and Agnus won't just leave the City people alone.
• Sad Battle Music: The fight against her at Raguel Lake when possessed by Alpha plays "Words That Never Reached You", which is used in fights to do with Tragic Villains, such as the fight against N in Chapter 6 of the base game, and the sidequest fight against Shania.
• Shared Family Quirks: In a roundabout sense, she shares both Noah and Mio's musical aptitude, being a skilled pianist, though the incarnations she's descended from didn't have this skill themselves.
• Squishy Wizard: How she plays in the postgame. She has very high ether power and strong AOE attacks, but she has the lowest HP of the party, making her even more frail than Rex.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She takes much after her great-grandmother Mio, including her Gormotti ears and slate-white hair.
• Tragic Bigot: After a village of City Inhabitants, including the children, were brutally wiped out by a Kevasi squadron, Nae'el grew to resent many of the Kevasi and Agnian soldiers the City liberated and took in. This is despite many City inhabitants, including herself and Matthew through Noah and Mio, either being or being related to soldiers freed from the cycle.
• Vocal Dissonance: Despite being Matthew's younger sister and being reminiscent of Nia and Mio, her voice is actually deeper than all of them (though only in the EN dub) and lacks the usual Gormotti Welsh accent.

Founder Rhodes (Rodis)

Founder Glimmer Rhodes (Kagiroi Rodis)

Class: Kitharode
Blade: Wildfire Kithara
Role: Healer

Voiced by: Shino Shimoji (Japanese), Georgina Sadler (English)

"But now, I'm glad I'm here... Glad I can choose for myself..."

The founder of House Rhodes, and a former Agnian soldier from Colony Gamma. Her battle with Nikol was interupted by Matthew and A who freed them from their enslavement to Moebius, and after some resistance she joined their forces.

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• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Receives a tender hair ruffle from Rex as he assures her that his "death" will not stick, that even if she doesn't fully understand it and no matter how long it takes, if and when Moebius are finally beaten, they will see each other again.
• Ambiguously Related: She is confirmed to be an incarnation of Rex's daughter, and it's heavily implied that Pyra is her mother. While the topic of her mother is only indirectly brought up in game (where Linka states she figured out Glimmer's relation to Rex because she "looks just like" a certain someone), from the three children shown in Nia's family photo, Pyra's child is the only one with the same hair color as Glimmer. Likewise, given that it's heavily implied that Mio is Nia's daughter, and that Rex was likely her father, that would make Glimmer Mio's half-sister (and Matthew her great-grandnephew, via his descent from Mio).
• Badass Adorable: She's a cute, delicate older teen girl similar to her implied mother's appearance, and is also a highly potent Combat Medic.
• The Bard: She functions similarly to a typical RPG bard, fighting with her music and with Arts that specialize in providing partywide buffs.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: In the early parts of the DLC, while she's generally acerbic to everyone, she's especially cynical and sarcastic to Rex. Of course, she doesn't know he's her father — or what a father is, even — but it still comes off as an annoyed daughter and her put-upon dad.
• Combat Medic: Glimmer is said to have been a great warrior, but also an excellent healer, with the City crediting her for their knowledge of medical arts. Her Kitharode class focuses on healing and Ether-based attacks, and she covers more of a White Mage playstyle compared to A.
• Composite Character: The official trailer and profile show her to have aspects from all three forms of the Aegis; she has Pyra's appearance and flame powers, Mythra's hotblooded and selfish personality (and is voiced very similarly to her in the English dub despite having a different voice actress), and Pneuma's hairstyle. On top of this, instead of being a sword-wielding Attacker like all of them were, she's a staff-wielding Healer and has some visual similarities to Haze/Fan la Norne, an old friend of theirs.
• Dramatic Irony: Played for Laughs. As shown on the statues, history would remember Glimmer as gentle and kind, but Glimmer is shown in-person to be quite violent and harsh-tempered.
• Early-Bird Cameo: As Rex's daughter, she (or at least her first incarnation) is all but confirmed to be one of his babies seen in Nia's photo at the end of the base game, specifically Pyra's child as the hair color matches Glimmer's.
• Expy: While Glimmer mostly takes after Pyra and Mythra, her hair is a more brownish shade than her implied mother, and she wears clothing that somewhat resembles miko attire. Combined with her role as a staff-wielding Healer, she also brings Haze/Fan la Norne to mind, who fought alongside her implied aunt Mythra. During the story, she also takes on a very similar role to Mythra in TTGC, as the Bratty Teenage Daughter to an older, more experienced jovial male swordsman known for wielding the Aegis, except that in Glimmer's case, she's Rex's actual daughter.
• Fiery Redhead: While she has red hair like Pyra (albeit more auburn/mauve with bright red tips), she has Mythra's harsher and more selfish personality.
• Gender Flip: She resembles a more graceful, feminine version of Smoldering Cammuravi in terms of design and fighting style; her Wildfire Kithara even resembles his Heatshimmer Spear.
• Like Father, Like Son:
  • Even though Glimmer is more withdrawn and abrasive compared to Rex's usual friendly and outgoing personality, she definitely inherited his hotheadedness and naivety, traits that have served to cause trouble for others more often than once. Not to mention their fiercely independent natures, something that Shulk points out.
  • Glimmer also inherited Rex's ability to read people through their eyes. When she meets N, she could immediately sense the sadness in his eyes, unlike the other Consuls whose eyes were filled with sadistic glee, similar to how Rex could see the sadness in Jin's eyes back then.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Something Rex has a very hard time with. Glimmer is his opposite in nearly every way, from personality (withdrawn and abrasive, as opposed to friendly and outgoing) to her upbringing (as she is a Child Soldier who's never known anything but a life of war, while he was an independent worker from a young age). As such, he has no clue how to deal with her at first, and their relationship starts out pretty rocky. He even complains that Shulk lucked out in comparison with how he and Nikol get along really well. Gameplay-wise, Rex has multiple combo arts (having a Topple and Launch art by default, with the capacity to inflict Break with a certain Ouroboros art combination), while Glimmer has no such arts.
• Meaningful Name: Her Japanese name, Kagiroi, is a homonym for 陽炎 — aka "heat haze" — and she can summon fire. More specifically, the kanji for 陽炎 can be read as "Hikari" and "Homura" respectively, indicating her connection to the Aegises as indicated by her Core Crystal. Still somewhat in play with her English name, Glimmer; a "glimmer" is a faint or unsteady light, and one can have a 'glimmer of light' or a 'glimmer of fire' (although the latter is an incredibly uncommon phrase).
• Ms. Fanservice: Similarly to Eunie, it's downplayed, given that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is Tamer and Chaster then the previous two games, but it is noticeable. She has a large bust size and shows off her cleavage and thighs in her outfit. Fitting, given that she's the daughter to Pyra.
• Musical Assassin: Glimmer's staff can manifest energy strings, which she can play like a stringed instrument to attack with.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: She leads Consul/Moebius W of Colony Eta to the Liberators' Base in the hopes she can rejoin Colony Gamma, though W tells her since she's not bound to the Flame Clock, he tries to kill her and the Liberators, but is stopped by Matthew, A, Shulk, Nikol, and Rex before he could do so.
• Playing with Fire: She fights with a staff called the Wildfire Kithara that can summon flames.
• Production Throwback: Her design and hair color incorporate various elements from the prototype design for Pyra, who is implied to be her mother.
• Retirony: Inverted. She was apparently very close to her Homecoming... but then Matthew got involved in her fight with Nikol, breaking her connection to the Flame Clock and making her an unwilling enemy of the Consuls.
• Shared Family Quirks:
  • Glimmer is implied to have inherited her Survivor Guilt and self-loathing tendencies from her assumed mother/ancestor Pyra. However, in terms of overall personality, she's a lot more like Mythra, being quite surly, standoffish, and foul-mouthed.
  • Like with her implied sister Mio, Glimmer similarly shows affinity for a musical instrument — though instead of a flute, she instead prefers stringed instruments such as a lute and a bass violin (through her combat arts).
  • Her reckless hotheadedness and naivety similarly reflects how her father behaved early in his journey, endangering those around her for no good reason, though in her case, it's more about Moebius rather than Mòrag Ladair or shady characters like Chairman Bana. Appropriately, Rex himself calls this out.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: She certainly carries a lot of differences from her half-sister Mio. Both are Agnian 10th termers that were freed from the Flame Clock very close to their respective Homecomings, but their intial reactions to their new situations are different. Mio slowly and calmly processes it, while Glimmer lashes out at first. As mentioned above, both have an affinity for musical instruments. Mio, being an off-seer, plays the flute, but never during combat (unless it's while using the Troubador class' Talent Art), while Glimmer's staff doubles as a kithara with energy strings in battle. Lastly, they possess differing personalities, though oddly, Glimmer acts more like Mythra, while it's Mio who acts more like Pyra.
• The Smurfette Principle: While Linka and Panacea are part of the Liberators and A is feminine nonbinary, Glimmer is the only girl that's playable. During the battle against Alpha and post-game, Na'el joins the party.
• Status Buff: Burning Ballad increases the critical rate of nearby allies and gains additional effects depending on which Art it's fused with.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She is initially the most standoffish and angry about being forced to work with the rest of the party; it's both because of her anger over being denied her Homecoming, and also how she's expected to work alongside Nikol after everything she's lost to Keves over the years. She starts getting better at this after Consul W's defeat.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: She has a very long ponytail similar to "Pneuma" (Pyra and Mythra's ascended state), a hairstyle that her father Rex is known to have an affinity for (especially in the Japanese version).
• Unwanted Rescue: Is initially less than grateful towards Matthew freeing her from the Flame Clock and stopping the conflict between her and Nikol because she feels he's robbed her of her life's purpose. She goes out of her way to rejoin Agnus, until she learns the hard way how little Moebius cares.
• White Magician Girl: She's the only female playable party member, she wears a white outfit, and she's a Healer who fights with a staff.

Founder Ortiz (Oates)

Founder Nikol Ortiz (Nikol Oates)

Class: Machinist
Weapon: Variable Backpack
Role: Defender

Voiced by: Masamu Ono (Japanese), Joe Jameson (English)

"Honestly, just knowing who I'm meant to be fighting... that's the biggest thing of all."

The founder of House Ortiz, and a former Kevesi soldier from Colony 5. After Matthew got between his fight with Glimmer, he began traveling with them and became determined to fight for what was right.

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• Ambiguously Related: For all intents and purposes, averted compared to the other child characters. A all but explicitly says he's an incarnation of Shulk's son, while other dialogue makes it unambiguous that Fiora is Nikol's mother, explaining his hair and eye color. One Affinity Scene has Rex be confused over if Dunban was Shulk's mentor or his brother-in-law, and Shulk becoming flustered but not refuting it, confirming that he and Fiora got married after the events of 1. Lastly, one Affinity Scene between Shulk and Nikol at Outlook Park has him explaining to Nikol that it's thanks to Fiora's support of Shulk that "[he's] here today at all...and that goes for you, too", which is pretty much outright confirmation that Nikol is Shulk and Fiora's child without saying it directly.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: Total Destruction ignores the foe's defense. Blitz Punch and Smart Bomb also gain the ability to pierce defense if they're fused with Steady Assault.
• Awesome Backpack: The mechanical arms he uses in combat come from the Variable Backpack he wears.
• Brutal Honesty: Despite his meek personality, he's not a complete pushover and doesn't mince his words, such as when he brusquely orders Glimmer to heal him if he thinks she's slacking off during their 2-on-2 duel with their fathers.
• Cowardly Lion: The relationship chart for Future Redeemed labels Nikol a "timid soldier". Prior to his fateful confrontation with Glimmer, he's shown cowering and hiding from the battle. Even so, he stands up to Glimmer and defeats her allies despite being outnumbered, and eventually joins the fight with the Liberators against Moebius.
• Damage Reduction: Nikol receives less damage while using Steady Assault or Total Destruction.
• Fictional Disability: For some reason, he cannot summon a Blade like most other soldiers in Aionios, but is able to get around that by building himself a machine that can fight in place of one.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Those mechanical arms he uses to fight aren't his Blade; he built those himself. He is also seen fixing Shulk's prosthetic arm. He eventually grew up to develop the second City's mechanical systems, including the fact that it is a titanic Ferronis.
• Gender-Blender Name: His name in the game data is spelled "Nicole", which is a feminine name, but it is localized to its masculine equivalent Nikol.
• Hair Intakes: His hair has two small scoops, similar to his mother Fiora.
• Idiot Hair: Has a small cowlick at the top of his head just like both of his parents.
• Like Father, Like Son: Shares Shulk's love of tinkering with machines, as well as his initial isolation, and has a more extreme version of his social awkwardness.
• Meaningful Name: His name is a diminutive version of the common first name "Nicholas", the same root name from Klaus is also derived. He is the son of Shulk, whose body was the host to one half of Klaus's soul.
• No Social Skills: Several characters note that he's kind but also very socially awkward and has a bad habit of saying the wrong thing. He also has difficulty recognizing specific emotions and sometimes asks others to clarify them for him.
• Older Than They Look: He has a young face and is shorter than Glimmer, but she and Nikol are both on their last term, making them physically 19 years old. He also looks younger than Shulk did in Future Connected despite their being the same age.
• Production Throwback: His outfit, controlled backpack weapon, and overall appearance are very similar to an unused Power Fist costume concept for Fiora.
• The Quiet One: Nikol is not much for speaking, even if it's something he feels he needs to say. Matthew calls him out on this a few times.
• Shared Family Quirks: Nikol and Shulk share a few of the same abilities and even do some of the same actions. A good example would be with their jumping animation, as Nikol has the same jumping animation as his father in the first game. See for yourself.
• Shorter Means Smarter: The smallest member of the main party, and perhaps the smartest (or at least, the smartest human, given that A is a Benevolent A.I.). Even Shulk, the Gadgeteer Genius of the first game, finds Nikol's expertise helpful.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: His strawberry-blonde hair and green eyes indicate his connection to his mother Fiora, a past example of this trope.
• Status Buff: Machine Clap increases Nikol's defense and gains additional effects depending on which Art it's fused with.
• Stone Wall: He's a Defender, and his Arts Steady Assault and Total Destruction both have the effect of decreasing damage done to him during their duration.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Other than his eye and hair color being Fiora's, Nikol resembles how Shulk looked in his youth.
• Taking the Bullet: When W is about to fire a blast at Glimmer, Nikol tries to block it, only for Rex to intercept it instead.
• Teen Genius: Like his father before him, Nikol is a whiz with machines at around 19 years old.
• Un-Sorcerer: Nikol cannot summon a Blade. He doesn't just prefer to fight with his Variable Backpack; without building it, as a Kevesi with no Blade, he would be unable to fight, a fact that lead to him being mocked by some of his fellow Kevesi soldiers.
• Vocal Dissonance: Similar to Lora in Torna, Nikol's voice is much deeper in the English dub than one would expect to reflect that he is Older Than They Look. He's nearly 20 years old despite looking much younger than that.

Founder Reid

Founder Panacea Reid

Voiced by: Akeno Watanabe (Japanese), Grace Hogg-Robinson (English)

"Alright, I'll make it quick and painful!"

The Founder of House Reid. Unlike most of the other Founders, she decided not to have a statue of herself built, instead honoring her mentor Shulk.

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• Ambiguously Related: Her overall design and Japanese voice actress indicate a relation to Sharla, whether as her daughter or her niece via Juju. Shulk being her mentor could also point to her possibly being the daughter of his best friend Reyn as well. Made incredibly less ambiguous when Shulk refers to her parents in a sidequest as being caring to a fault and beloved by many people; Sharla was a medic and emotional cornerstone of her colony, Reyn was single-mindedly focused on protecting Shulk and keeping the party's morale up, and Juju dedicated himself to helping rebuild Colony 6 and at least one Nopon NPC expressed a major infatuation with him.
• Badass Normal: Despite being from the world of Bionis, Panacea doesn't wear a power frame to increase her physical strength yet is still able to pin down a Feronis with nothing but her spear.
• Dramatic Irony: The statue dedicated to House Reid emphasizes that she was Happily Adopted and that Shulk treated her like his own daughter despite their lack of biological relation to each other. This is in stark opposition to her descendant Shania Reid, who notably suffered from horrific abuse at her biological mother's hands, and whose lack of an effective support network in its place drove her to villainy.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Panacea joins the party in a few combat encounters, primarily in sidequests, and fights as a spear using NPC.
• Jerkass Has a Point: She's undeniably a jerk to Glimmer starting out, but Panacea's not wrong to be upset at her after she tries reporting the Liberators' camp to a Moebius out of stubborn loyalty despite Shulk treating her with kindness and understanding. Shortly after Glimmer makes an escape, Panacea calls out Shulk on not giving the girl all the details on what her new status as a Clockless means, namely how Moebius will try to have her killed on sight, due to him not wanting to overwhelm her. The other members of the party don't dispute that she has a point about what Glimmer did, and just ask that she be a little more understanding of Glimmer's situation.
• Meaningful Name: A panacea is a universal cure, or the name of the Greek goddess from which the word is derived, fitting considering her implied relation to the medic Sharla.
• Noble Bigot: It's implied that she's not quite as tolerant of Kevesi and Agnian soldiers compared to her mentor, with her quickly forming a vitriolic relationship with Glimmer and generally being less considerate of the existential crisis she's suffering after being freed from the Flame Clock's influence so abruptly — the same behavior Rex gets called out on by Linka, after he first meets Glimmer. That doesn't stop her from working with a group seeking to free both groups from the Moebius' manipulations and protect the world at large, and she's cordial with Glimmer once she stops her disruptive and dangerous behavior.
• Screaming Warrior: She shows off an epic battle cry as she pins W's Agnian Ferronis' arm with her lance to provide an opening for Shulk.

Founder Cassini (Kashii)

Founder Linka Cassini (Rinka Kashii)

Voiced by: Ryō Hirohashi (Japanese), Meaghan Martin (English)

The Founder of House Cassini. Unlike most of the other Founders, she decided not to have a statue of herself built, instead honoring her mentor Rex.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Refers to Rex affectionately as "boss", contrasting with Panacea's more formal use of "teacher" for Shulk.
• Ambiguously Related: Her Japanese voice actress, Japanese name (Rinka), green hair, Core Crystal shape and color (rectangular and green), and even her black-and-purple color scheme and her wearing glasses imply she is related to Pandoria (whose Japanese name is Saika). Rex being her mentor could also point to her being the daughter of Zeke (a mentor of sorts of his in 2) with Pandoria. Her ears even look like a cross between Pandoria's long, pointed ears and a human's. Made incredibly less ambiguous in a sidequest where Linka reminds Rex about her father's penchant for over-exaggeration.
• Barely-Changed Dub Name: Unlike the localized name of her mother Pandoria, which reads very differently from Saika (although both carry the same implication of "calamity"), Linka's name in the dub is barely changed from her Japanese name of Rinka.
• Like Father, Like Son: She shares her father's talent for numbers given her role in logistics for the Liberators, and her mother's Sarcastic Devotee tendencies.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Very intelligent and responsible-minded, in contrast to her very bombastic and somewhat ditzy parents.
• Magic Staff: Her Blade is a staff which she uses to launch ether attacks. This is very similar in function to Pandoria's staff in 2, though it looks slightly different.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: While the kingdom doesn't exist in Aionios, her father was the crown prince of Tantal, making her at least descended from royalty or even a princess in her own right. Nevertheless, she stands right beside Rex as he goes into battle to support him against Alpha or Moebius.
• Sarcastic Devotee: She looks up to Rex a great deal and he can always rely on her, but she readily criticizes some of his behavior (especially how he copes with his sorrow over being separated from so many of his loved ones); in particular, how harsh he initially is with Glimmer. While Panacea also critiques Shulk, Linka is a fair bit more overt with Rex.
• Shared Family Quirks: Rex reveals in a sidequest that Linka's favorite food is Fried Octomayo, a Staple Food in 2 that was one of Pandoria's favorite pouch items. He also notes that her parents introduced him to the recipe, making the connection even clearer.
• Shock and Awe: Shown to unleash a lightning attack, as expected of Pandoria's daughter, though hers is yellow, as opposed to her mother's purple. For bonus points, it's conducted through a staff that resembles the detached grip portion of the Big Bang Edge.
• The Smart Guy: The brains of the Liberators and whom Rex defers to when he needs information on the enemy, status of the colony's morale, etc.

The Seventh Founder (MASSIVE SPOILERS)

See here for the Seventh Founder, Riku.

The Liberators

Allies to the Founders introduced in Future Redeemed, the Liberators are a group of resistance fighters against Moebius that seek to restore the world to how it was before. Originally they consisted of a scant few people directly from the old worlds who were for uncertain reasons not assimilated into Origin when Aionios was born. In the years since they have added scattered City people, and Kevesi and Agnians who were freed from their Flame Clocks and reintroduced to standard life. Due to the situation with Alpha, the Liberators negotiated a ceasefire with Moebius some years prior to the events of Future Redeemed. The Liberators would later join the second City, with two of their members founding it.

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In General

• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Zigzagged. After Alpha is defeated, Origin needs someone to become the Trinity Processor or Aionios will collapse. A, Shulk, and Rex together become the new avatar of Origin, but make it clear they will come back once Origin resets.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Shulk and Rex's Union Combo, Sword of Liberation, has the two striking a back-to-back pose.
• Bash Brothers: Shulk and Rex are the two leaders of the Liberators and are indicated to have kicked a lot of Moebius ass as a duo together.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: Rex is the tallest and by far the brawniest of the three. Shulk is the thin one, relatively speaking, as he's still a lot taller and bulkier than he was in the first game, but he is the most prominent leader figure among the Liberators and a lot leaner than Rex. A is the short member of the trio, being the smallest of the three as well as the most intellectual due to being a humanoid AI.
• Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: Shulk is appropriately titled Grand Marshal as the main leader of the Liberators, while Rex is his coleader. Shulk is appropriately the more polite of the two, speaking respectfully to the newcomers and the captive Glimmer compared to the harsher Panacea or Rex, although in Rex's case it's more out of fatherly concern than overall rudeness. On the whole it's downplayed, and Rex is still very affable in his day-to-day demeanor.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Shulk is associated with the color red and Rex with blue, per their designs in their respective games. Meanwhile, A wears an outfit that is light purple like Alvis', symbolically an intermediate between the two as well as a representative of the pre-divide Earth from which both characters' worlds are derived.
• Foolish Husband, Responsible Wife: Shulk and Rex aren't married to each other, but their dynamic can take on similar elements. Rex is a big goofball who can come off as a bit of a Bumbling Dad in his interactions with Glimmer and Linka, whereas Shulk tends to be the mature and responsible voice of reason who gives Rex advice on parenting.
• Freudian Trio: A is derived from an advanced supercomputer that functions similarly to the Freudian Ego, requiring a healthy balance of input from both Logos (a duty eventually assumed by the rational Shulk, representing the Superego at the end) and Pneuma (a duty assumed by the passionate Rex, representing the Id) in order to properly function.
• Cynic–Idealist Duo: Downplayed, as Shulk and Rex are similarly jaded by their old age and experiences fighting Moebius, while simultaneously having the hope that their efforts will eventually bring about a better future. Shulk is the more melancholy and cautious of the two, fighting out of a desire to stop the evil forces denying the people's right to live their lives free of oppression, whereas Rex is a bombastic risk-taker who fights to create a world where those people's lives will be happy ones.
• Force and Finesse: Shulk is the finesse to Rex's force. While both are equal in terms of power, Shulk has a more tactical mind with a fighting style that revolves around understanding the enemy and reacting accordingly, whereas in battle Rex is an absolute beast that prioritizes raw damage over everything else allowing him to tear through enemies with ease. However, this also means he's a glass cannon that needs someone to cover him in order to maximize effectiveness.
• Gentle Touch vs. Firm Hand: Shulk represents the gentle touch, and as a mentor, he's very delicate and diplomatic. Best exemplified with his interactions with Nikol, where he helps the boy to come out of his shell by encouraging his interest in engineering. Meanwhile Rex is the firm hand, and while he's still a big softy, as a mentor to the Founders, Rex has no reservations being honest or scolding someone when they make a mistake. This is particularly shown with Glimmer, who he calls out for her reckless behavior, matching her stubbornness when needed to ensure she doesn't get herself or others hurt.
• Hair-Contrast Duo: Shulk has long, fair hair representative of his kind and well-mannered disposition, while Rex has spiky darker brown Shonen Hair reflective of his more Hot-Blooded personality.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: They married and started families with their respective love interests after the end of their past adventures, but have become very close to one another over the course of however long they've been fighting together, to the point that they're able to tease each other Like an Old Married Couple.
• Mentor Archetype: The three are returning characters (at least in spirit in the case of A) from the previous games who use their experience and knowledge to educate the younger characters and prepare them to continue their struggle into the present time of the main game.
• Noble Male, Roguish Male: Shulk became a polite intellectual and Long Haired Prettyboy who resembles the dashing Dunban in his old age, has a skill titled "Gentleman's Valor" when he is unlocked as an optional Hero in the base game, and settled down with his lifelong childhood sweetheart Fiora. Meanwhile Rex is an oafish but good-natured Hunk, as reflected by his title of "Stoutheart", and is heavily implied to have also married and had children with Mythra and Nia in addition to his primary love interest Pyra.
• Physical, Mystical, Technological: Rex's appearance and abilities emphasize his ability to defeat his enemies through Hunky raw physical might. A is a God in Human Form who wields a Magical Weapon based off a divine artifact capable of warping reality, and as the party's Jack of All Trades, A has access to the most Ether-based abilities. Shulk is a technological genius who wields an artificial imitation of said divine sword that he built with his own two hands.
• Power Trio: The game tends to group Shulk, Rex, and A together plotwise, as they are the three characters who directly remember the events of the first two games due to having experienced them directly.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Downplayed. Shulk and Rex both grew up to become very muscular and masculine-looking, but Shulk is the Sensitive Guy comparatively speaking, being a mild-mannered and still slightly-awkward geek with long hair who was described as "delicate" in youth, and his role is as an evasion tank (a role that emphasizes finesse) who provides a more outwardly supportive and affectionate approach to parenting the younger members of the party. Meanwhile, Rex is the Manly Man of the duo, being a strong and muscular Boisterous Bruiser who is a lot more open with his emotions and favors a more strict and disciplinary style of parenting.
• Silver Fox: Background information on some of the other Liberators indicates that Shulk and Rex are at least in their mid-40s or older, but they are still very fit and handsome for their age despite having the visible wrinkles to show for it.

Individual Tropes

A

A

Class: Monado Fencer
Weapon: Monado
Role: Healer

Voiced by: Rina Sato (Japanese), Rosie Day (English)

"Even when they'd been granted limitless freedom, even having built the perfect world for themselves, humans have yet desired the 'beyond'."

A mysterious person who aided the Founders of the City long ago. After finding Matthew injured from the City's destruction, A nurses him back to health and begins travelling with him as an exasperated ally and swearing to help him restore the City.

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• Absurdly Sharp Blade: A's Monado is capable of slicing through Ferronises just like Lucky Seven in the main game, a feat shared by Shulk's Monado REX+ and Rex's Firelight Swords.
• Ambiguous Gender: A uses the masculine-leaning first-person pronoun "boku" just as Alvis did, but has a feminine-leaning androgynous appearance and voice, and is assigned the gender value of 1 (female) in the game's code, unlike the explicitly-nonbinary Juniper and Roc, who receive unique gender designations. However, A is never once referred to with gendered pronouns whether by A's self or anyone else (including in promotional materials; at most, A is occasionally referred to as a "person"). Other characters go out of their way to refer to A with non-gendered language compared to the rest of the cast in a conspicuous manner that suggests A is readily identifiable as being neither male nor female in-universe. Rex also states that the reason for A's current appearance is that the gender of Ontos is between male and female, and at the end of the game Shulk directly refers to A by the full name of "Alvis".
• Arch-Enemy: Judging by A's and Alpha's dialogue to each other in the final confrontation, Alpha most definitely sees A as this.
  A: Alpha…
  Alpha: I safeguard this world, by removing what is timeworn. But it seems that you continue to contravene me. You spur these olden mortals to action.
  A: I am your conscience.
  Alpha: "Conscience"? Ahah… There is no place for it in the Trinity Processor.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: A's aptly named skill Armor Piercing allows A to ignore some of the enemy's ether defense when they land a hit.
• Bifauxnen: Downplayed and invoked. A does not explicitly identify as female (or anything specific at all, really, given that no pronouns are ever used for the character, and no other character ever refers to A with gendered terminology of any kind at all), but A has a more feminine-leaning version of the physical androgyny that made Alvis a Pretty Boy in 1. A also speaks with a husky Tomboyish Voice, use uses masculine pronouns in Japanese, and behaves in a brusque and somewhat masculine-performing way as a reversal of Alvis's effeminate Japanese voice and mild Agent Peacock tendencies.
• Big Good: As the Good Counterpart of Alpha, A is a more than fitting example, being the incarnation of Ontos that still has a conscience and guides the Founders and Liberators in steering Aionios towards resetting and fusing the worlds properly, whereas the other incarnation Alpha desires to blow it all away and start anew with the inhabitants of The City.
• But Now I Must Go: When Alpha is defeated and removed from Origin, A has to step in as the core of Origin alongside Rex and Shulk.
• Canon Character All Along: Essentially functions as the original Alvis seen in Xenoblade Chronicles 1 in a new incarnation/body, whereas Alpha retains the physical appearance of Alvis. Although A never claims to be more than a part of Alpha, particularly Alpha's conscience, and explains that the original "is no longer," A holds the memories and associated feelings of Alvis from the world of the Bionis, albeit A notes they are often only faint recollections. Shulk also interacts with A as the person he knew, and refers to A as "Alvis" in their final scene together.
• Character Catchphrase: "Phenomenal", often said in response to things going awry or basically anything to do with Matthew.
• Combat Clairvoyance: As the wielder of a Monado, A can see into the future. This is translated in gameplay as a Talent Art that allows A and the party to dodge all incoming attacks for a short period, becoming effectively invincible.
• Combat Medic: Described as an offensive healer who fights with sharp strikes, and uses a variant of Shulk's "Light Heal" Art called "Light Field".
• Combat Pragmatist: A sneaks behind and kills Q and R by stabbing them in their cores with their Monado while they're distracted with Matthew, though A admits it's a distasteful tactic.
• Cool Sword: A's weapon of choice is a Monado. It's also implied to be a genuine Monado, rather than a replica like the variants Shulk wields in 1 (or the Monado REX he wields in Future Connected and Future Redeemed). As an incarnation of Ontos, of course A would be able to generate a true Monado; Alvis could, as could Malos and Mythra.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Downplayed compared to Rex and Shulk, who were around in the prior games and used physical weapons that influence how they call their Blades in Aionios. A, however, calls the Monado to A's waist as if it's in a nonexistent sheath due to being an Iaijutsu Practitioner.
• Deadpan Snarker: A has an understated but very present sarcastic streak, particularly when Matthew does something dumb.
• Enemy Without: Inverted. A is Alpha's good side and conscience who manage to split off from him during the attack on the City and is a key member in the effort to oppose him.
• Enigmatic Minion: Heroic version; A's nature remains a mystery for a good part of Future Redeemed, but A is unquestionably on the side of good. Matthew lampshades how elusive and mysterious A can be, and A's answers suggest that A may not fully understand A's own past either, outright saying "I may well have been" after Matthew asks if they were a wanderer in the past.
• God Was My Copilot: The game leaves the question of A's exact nature vague, but A is obviously derived from the God of the world of the first game. In A's own description, A is the conscience of Ontos, formed from the memories Alvis made of travelling with Shulk's party and all other vague recollections Alvis had of their past experiences.
• Good Counterpart: In Chapter 3, A reveals to Shulk and Rex that A is an offshoot from Alpha who inherited Alvis' memories and experiences, effectively making A this to Alpha, who lacks these things.
• Hidden Depths: A offers to teach Glimmer how to play the lute at the end of a sidequest, and they sometimes play together at a campsite. The rest of the party is surprised to find out that the cool-headed A is a talented musician.
• Iaijutsu Practitioner: Despite not actually having a sheath, A uses the Monado this way, holding the weapon at waist-level between every attack similar to Noah with the Lucky Seven.
• Invincibility Power-Up: A's Talent Art, "Vision", grants the party temporary invincibility from all enemy attacks. While it's active, they become able to charge up an AOE attack called "Vanishing End". Unlike every other Talent Art, Vision has limited uses per battle due to how overpowered granting full invincibility is.
• Jack of All Stats: Gameplay-wise, A, despite being a Healer classification, covers just about every field of skill type, with damage, healing, buffing, debuffing, and even very light tanking when using Vision. That said, A is out performed in each area by the rest of the party; Glimmer heals better and has more buffing skills, Matthew and Rex do damage better, and Nikol and Shulk tank by default. The one area where A outshines them all, however, is during Vision's activation, which grants the entire party temporary invincibility and gives A the chance to barrage all enemies with an absolutely massive finishing move, bringing out the wing on A's left shoulder and rocking enemies with a series of slashes.
• Literal Split Personality: In a similar situation as Noah/N, Mio/M, and — as revealed in Future Redeemed — the Architect/Zanza and Pyra/Mythra, A is Alvis' regrets,hope, and redeeming nature given form, existing to oppose Alpha.
• Meaningful Name: "A" is a homophone for the Japanese word 睿, which means "wisdom" and "farsightedness", and which is a good description of A's literal Prescience by Analysis powers. It's also a hint to A's true name, since "Alvis" also has the same meaning of "all-knowing" in Old Norse.
• Mechanically Unusual Class:
  • Due to the overpowered nature of A's Talent Art, Vision is the only Talent Art in the game to have a limited number of uses per battle (starting with only one per battle, with more uses being granted when the Art is upgraded).
  • While Vision is active, A can use another, entirely different Talent Art called Vanishing End; the only other character/class to have two Talent Arts is Noah when he has Unlimited Sword as his Talent Art. Because of the limitations of Vision, Vanishing End can also only be used a limited number of times per battle.
• Multiple-Choice Future: A invokes this as to why A doesn't share visions of the future outside of immediate threats in battle. What A can tell of the future is only one possibility, and a hazy one at that, so A prefers to let the rest of the party act without their behavior being altered by knowing that possibility.
• One-Letter Name: Despite not being Moebius, A follows a similar naming scheme, and when Matthew asks if "A" is a real name, A dodges the question by simply noting the name is effective at signifying the "beginning" and how A and Alpha are the only beings in Aionios who can bear that title. At the end Shulk refers to A as "Alvis", confirming that "A" is a pseudonym and that this is the full name A was keeping hidden.
• Otherworldly and Sexually Ambiguous: A is derived from the Trinity Processor Ontos, who was essentially God in the first game, and who was used as the basis for Origin. A is never referred to by any third-person pronouns at all in-game, at most being described with terms such as "this person" or its various localized equivalents. Further, Rex states that Ontos' gender was designed to be somewhere between male and female, and though A looks and sounds more feminine than Alvis, A uses a masculine pronoun in the Japanese version like Alvis once did and is the mind of Alvis from 1 in a new body.
• Precursor Heroes: A, along with the other Founders and Liberators, are the heroes from long past whose deeds are no longer remembered by most of the soldiers due to the way time operates in Aionios.
• Promoted to Playable: During the first game, Alvis lent Shulk a hand as a non-playable ally for one battle. Now, Alvis (or at least part of him reincarnated) is a fully playable character from start to finish.
• Red Herring:
  • Given how little is known about the Seventh Founder and that A isn't mentioned or referred to at all in the main game's City, it's implied A is the mysterious Seventh Founder. The end of Future Redeemed reveals the Seventh Founder was actually Riku, who would later leave the City to integrate with a Kevesi Colony in the hopes of finding a worthy wielder for the Sword of Origin. A's lack of presence in the City's history can likely be attributed to the other Founders purposefully keeping A's involvement a secret alongside the battle with Alpha.
  • Since A has a One-Letter Name and an uniform that combines aspects of Alvis's outfit with the armored bodysuits worn by Consuls such as N and M in addition to those of Alvis, one might think that this is the long-lost Moebius A. In truth, A is completely unaffiliated with Moebius, although it's something of a Double Subversion borne of Enemy Mine where A chooses to side with Moebius against Alpha's threat of complete oblivion, and does so by becoming part of the new Trinity Processor maintaining Aionios's continued existence.
• The Red Mage: Gameplay-wise, A's class of Monado Fencer is a Healer role with combat utility. For bonus points, the Monado is in the shape of a rapier and colored red, common elements of the classical Red Mage design from Final Fantasy.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The calm and rational Blue Oni to Matthew's Hot-Blooded Red, as per A's profile.
• Status Buff: By default, Sword Mirage increases the evasion of nearby allies. It also gains additional effects depending on which Art it's fused with.
• That Man Is Dead: Ambiguous due to A's tendency for Cryptic Conversation, but A has some dialogue implying that A may not self-identify as literally Alvis anymore. When Shulk asks why A (who he once knew as Alvis) has a new appearance, A responds that A is Alvis's conscience, memories and hopes incarnated as a new individual. A also states with some visible sadness that Alvis is "no longer", and that A and Alpha are what remain, although A also self-identifies with Alpha to some extent. However, Shulk reaffirms A as "Alvis" at the end of the game, and in a creator interview in Aionios Moments the name Alvis is used for events involving A.
  A: My original, he was shaped by Klaus, and shouldered the man's regret, as he was born into that world. Hence, he was able to help you. But he is no longer… The "me" that is left is just a machine. And machines know no sympathy. (…) In any case, I was able to separate from Alpha. The memories of traveling with you, and all other faint recollections… They compose me. (A pauses) …You could call me his conscience.
• Tomboyish Voice: Rina Sato is known for voicing young boys, and correspondingly A has a fairly husky and boyish sounding voice in Japanese, mirroring how Alvis's voice in the Japanese version of 1 was similarly very high-pitched and androgynous from the other direction.
• Shrouded in Myth: More so than Matthew himself. A isn't even mentioned in 3, nor does A have a statue of commemoration, despite being a key ally of the Founders in their quest to rebuild the City and defeat Alpha. It's later revealed in Future Redeemed that A is Ontos's conscience after separating into two people, Alpha and A.
• Significant White Hair, Dark Skin: Downplayed example. While the contrast between A's hair and skin color is not as strong as Alvis's or most examples from the series, having similar silver hair and somewhat tan skin does underscore A's connection to him and the Monado, as well as cause A to visually stand out among the rest of the Founders. As it turns out, A is the conscience and emotions of Alvis in a new body/incarnation, carrying this trait over.
• A Sinister Clue: Inverted; A has Alpha's left wing, but is unambiguously heroic.
• Snark Knight: A tends to be dryly snarky at everyone, especially Matthew. Some of A's interactions with even Shulk, who A is undeniably close friends with, carry a dose of sarcasm.
• The Stoic: While A does have a sharp and sarcastic tongue, A doesn't emote much and remains mostly composed at all times. This tracks, as A was born from the purely logical Ontos, and is the similarly-behaved Alvis's mind and personality in a new body.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: When they first met, Matthew assumed A was from the City, having returned after a long trip. A didn't bother to correct him, though a later conversation has A express exasperation that Matthew would think it normal for someone from the City to travel by themselves when they live in a world as dangerous as Aionios.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Well, according to Matthew. A has an Aegis earring, a distinctive fashion sense, and a sword that can cut through Flame Clocks, none of which he thought to ask about. Glimmer and A lampshade this at the start of the Black Mountains:
  Glimmer: I cannot believe you! That day was the first time the two of you ever met, and you just "assumed" A was from the City?
  Matthew: There was a lot of us. I didn't know every single person. A'd supposedly lived there, and just happened to be coming back. That's basically when our paths crossed.
  Glimmer: So you knew nothing at all about A and you tagged along anyway? Ugh... Nobody's that oblivious.
  Matthew: Hey, blame the one keeping the secrets, not me.
  A: You never thought to inquire about it, so I never told. That's all.
  Matthew: Huh? Don't give me that!
  A: I mean, traveling this world alone isn't exactly normal behavior. Normally you'd inquire.
  Matthew: No, you wouldn't! Normally. (A stares at him)
• Vitriolic Best Buds: While A does frequently rag on Matthew's more hotblooded and less strategic nature, A recognizes Matthew has a kind and brave heart and they both have each other's backs nonetheless. Still doesn't stop either from constantly engaging in Snark-to-Snark Combat with each other, (especially A).
• You Didn't Ask: The reason A didn't tell Matthew who and what A truly was is simply because Matthew saw A, assumed A was from the City and just returning from a solo trip, and never questioned A about it. A simply thought that it was easier to roll with it, and did so until the encounter with Alpha made it clear to even Matthew that there was a lot more to A. Glimmer for her part is incredulous that Matthew didn't ask more questions, and for A's part A remarks that the mere idea that A was travelling around a place as dangerous as Aionios solo as Matthew believed should have been suspicious.

Mentor of Founder Reid

Godcleaver Shulk

Class: Grand Marshal
Weapon: Monado REX+
Role: Defender

Voiced by: Shintarō Asanuma (Japanese), Adam Howden (English)

"A tool is merely a tool; it does as the user chooses. Wouldn't you agree? Be it to kill others, or to help them..."

The Heir to the Monado, Shulk was initially a researcher on the Bionis who liberated his world from Zanza's rule, and was an ally of Queen Melia alongside Fiora, Dunban, Riki, Reyn, and Sharla. Within Aionios — and, more specifically, the City — he is known as the mentor of Founder Reid, with a statue of him honoring her being erected in the Memorial Hall in place of her.

For more info on Shulk as he was in his youth, click here.

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• Absent-Minded Professor: Rex comments that he has a tendency to get lost in thought about the scientific applications of machinery at odd times and often to the point of forgetting to eat unless reminded.
• An Arm and a Leg: He lost his right arm fighting Alvis, and has replaced it with a prosthesis.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: His Talent Art, Monado Buster, ignores the enemy's defense.
• Badass Cape: Shulk now wears a red cape over his attire, bringing to mind his old mentor and previous wielder of the Monado, Dunban.
• Bragging Rights Reward: He and Rex can be recruited as Heroes via the Challenge Battle mode only after the base game and Future Redeemed are beaten. However, their classes can't be used by the main cast, and there are no story scenes with them.
• Brought Down to Badass: As Shulk refused to succeed Zanza as the "god" of the remade Bionis after the latter's death, he lost the ability to peer into the future with the Monado. This and losing an arm hasn't done much to slow him down.
• Canon Character All Along: Future Redeemed confirms that Founder Reid's mentor was Shulk all along.
• The Confidant: Plays this role for Rex, helping him through his struggles with Glimmer and giving general advice. From the way they talk, it's clear that they've had this relationship for a while.
• Cool Old Guy: The two of them are somewhere in their 40s to 50s, with Shulk being the biologically-oldest playable party member of 3^note Gray is older at 60, but cannot be controlled directly. The two of them lead a heroic revolution against Moebius, who are the embodiment of Evil Old Folks.
• Cool Sword: The Monado REX+, to no one's surprise. While still a replica of the original Monado, it's still a fearsome weapon and is even capable of damaging Flame Clocks, just like Noah's Lucky Seven.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: When Shulk calls forth and subsequently puts away his Blade, he reaches over his shoulder to his back—the same place he sheathed the Monado back in 1. Nearly every other character just materializes their Blade in front of them, picks it up, and then prepares for battle.
• The Dreaded: The description for Founder Reid's mentor says that "the sight of him on the battlefield, great red sword in hand, struck fear into many a Moebius" despite his "calm and constant disposition". Considering that Founder Reid's mentor is Shulk, this reputation is well-earned.
• Expy: Of his old mentor, Dunban. In Future Redeemed, Shulk is an older and more experienced member of the party known for wielding the Monado who fulfills a mentor role. He's also lost the use of his dominant right arm (& has learned to wield a sword with his left arm instead), wears a red cape over his right shoulder, occupies a Defender role focused more on evasion-based tanking than straight-up taking hits, shares many of Dunban's Art animations (especially for Monado Buster, which resembles Dunban's Blossom Dance far more than it does the original Monado Buster), and now has longer hair than he had when he was younger. His artwork even resembles a piece of official artwork for Dunban for Xenoblade Chronicles 1, and he shares his default Completion Bonus with Ashera in the main game, who's another direct expy of Dunban. Ironically, this has the effect of making him even closer to Dunban's inspiration Citan Uzuki than Dunban himself, given that Citan was the team's resident case of The Smart Guy, Family Man, and a Gadgeteer Genius who would often be preoccupied with tinkering with technology at the expense of other activities, and suffered from a distant relationship with his odd but gifted child, in addition to being aware of many of the greater events in the story but not being able to share right away, which considering Matthew is heavily based off Fei, makes it more blatant.
• Feeling Their Age: Shulk expresses this at several points, due to a mix of his physical age and the seemingly endless battle against Moebius. He outright says that age has sapped his courage and his weariness is evident in his more melancholic attitude.
• Future Badass: Not only did Shulk get taller, getting older hasn't slowed him down, even with the loss of his dominant arm.
• Gadgeteer Genius: A former weapons researcher, he built the Monado REX+ and Power Frames that all Kevesi soldiers have come to rely on in 3 by himself between the events of the first game and Future Connected, and is still wielding them years later.
• Generation Xerox: Ironically ends up making a similar mistake as Klaus/the Architect when he installed Ontos as the architecture for Origin, not accounting for Alpha interpreting his wish at the end of 1 in an overly-literal and exclusionary fashion. Although this time it's a genuine mistake that came from good intentions and the consequences are more indirect compared to Klaus willfully activating the Conduit and separating Ontos from their brethren For Science!, it still has the same effect of trapping humanity in an endless and recursive cycle of suffering for millennia until someone from the world of the Bionis is finally able to break the cycle.
• Good Parents: One of the first things we learn about him in the base game was that he was an excellent adoptive father to the founder of House Reid, Panacea. Rex also notes that Shulk is a lot better at getting along with his son Nikol than he is with his daughter Glimmer, which he credits to Shulk having more role models who were very Good Parents in their own right.
• Handicapped Badass: Losing an arm hasn't slowed down Shulk one bit. It is, however, noted that the replacement arm was hastily made with the limited resources available, hence why he doesn't use it for anything requiring much dexterity.
• Happily Adopted: It's strongly implied that the reason he takes a lot more naturally to parenting compared to Rex is because he had a strong support network of adoptive family growing up, between Big Brother Mentor Dunban, Dickson, and Riki.
• Idiot Hair: Has a prominent cowlick carrying over from his Xenoblade 2 design, and he mentions that he'd often get so invested in machinery that he'd forget to eat.
• Lightning Bruiser: Further paralleling him to Dunban, his Grand Marshal class is more focused on agility tanking while dishing out damage, in contrast to Nikol's Stone Wall moveset.
• Like Father, Like Son: Implied; it's clear where Nikol got his love of machinery and building them from. Something Shulk and him bond over, as the latter fixes Shulk's arm.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Downplayed; Shulk's face shows signs of visible aging and stress that make him look more "rugged" than "pretty", but he still has his good looks — and the flowing long blond hair down his back certainly adds to that.
• Messy Hair: His hair is notably messy and unruly with more elaborate physics compared to other characters with similarly long but much neater hair, reflecting the stressful life he lives in addition to, as Aionios Moments indicates, his general lack of concern for upkeep due to his flighty Absent-Minded Professor personality.
• Mythology Gag: Shulk now has a Skill with a small chance of making any Art a perfect evasion Art with perfect accuracy called "Mechanical Rhythm."
• Official Couple: Married Fiora sometime after the events of Xenoblade Chronicles 1.
• Older Than They Look: Looks somewhat younger than Rex, despite being the older of the two by 3 years. Likewise, although he's noticeably older-looking than he was in Future Connected, he looks like a man his late 30s, especially in his concept art, despite contextual clues from NPCs indicating that he is in his mid-to-late 40s or even 50s.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Discussed and defied. When Rex vows not to "watch a kid go before their parent," Shulk agrees.
• Papa Wolf: The moment N attacks Nikol, the otherwise-reserved Shulk goes into berserk mode against him.
• Parental Substitute: The description for the statue of Founder Reid's mentor says that while Shulk and Founder Reid weren't biologically related, he treated her as if she was his own daughter. Considering that Panacea is all but said to be the child of Reyn and Sharla, it makes sense that Shulk would care for his best friend's child as if she were his own.
• Petal Power: His Monado Buster is modified to have the animation of Blossom Dance, resulting in its attacks generating cherry blossom petal-like shards of energy with each strike.
• Phantom Limb Pain: One of his on-the-field comments has him mentioning that his missing arm aches when it's about to rain.
• Previous Player-Character Cameo: Implied in the base game, as the statue described him as wielding a "great red sword", a quality associated with Shulk. Future Redeemed confirms that is indeed Shulk, where his appearance matches the mentor of Founder Reid, albeit without the loss of an arm.
• Red Baron: Godcleaver Shulk, referencing how he killed Zanza.
• Situational Hand Switch: Just like his brother-in-law, he had to switch to his left arm for sword-fighting after an injury. Unlike Dunban, who at least still had his arm and use it for non-combat purposes, Shulk outright lost it and had to get a prosthetic made.
• Static Character: Having already gone through significant character growth throughout 1, Shulk is a much more stable character this time around, and someone who Rex and the others can reliably come to for advice.
• Status-Buff Dispel: Monado Purge gains the ability to remove enemy buffs when it's fused with any of Shulk's Arts.
• Supporting Leader: Matthew is the main protagonist, but while Shulk and Rex are co-leaders of the Liberators, Shulk tends to be the one who functions more as the overall leader while Rex is content to act as his right-hand man.
• Team Mom: Shulk is slightly more feminine-looking than Rex, and his approach to parenting is more associated with stereotypically maternal traits such as wisdom and being more supportive and openly affectionate. Somewhat downplayed, as he tends to assume more proactive leadership duties which are typically associated with Team Dad figures.
• Unkempt Beauty: Notably, Tetsuya Takahashi explained that his hair became long and unkempt as a result of slobbishness due to his disinterest in his personal appearance, rather than any conscious effort to become a Long-Haired Pretty Boy, but it's nevertheless exactly what qualifies him for the trope.
• We Used to Be Friends: He and Alvis were once close friends and allies. Key word: were. By the time of Future Redeemed, Shulk and Alvis are now at odds. This only applies to Alpha, however. Shulk retains his friendship with A, an offshoot of Ontos who split away from Alpha thanks to N's interference and possesses Alvis' experiences and memories from Bionis. At the end of the expansion, Shulk even tells A in a good-natured manner, "Thanks a lot… 'Alvis'."

Mentor of Founder Cassini

Stoutheart Rex

Class: Master Driver
Weapon: Firelight Swords
Role: Attacker

Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (Japanese), Fergus O'Donnell (English)

"If through my fighting, someone out there gets to smile... that's the kind of world I wanna help create."

The Driver of the Aegis, Rex was an orphaned salvager in the world of Alrest who became bonded with the Aegises Pyra and Mythra. With them, he traveled to the World Tree alongside Queen Nia, Tora, Mòrag Ladair, and Zeke von Genbu, in order to find Elysium. Within Aionios — and, more specifically, the City — he is known as the mentor of Founder Cassini, with a statue of him honoring her being erected in the Memorial Hall in place of her.

For more info on Rex as he was in his youth, click here.

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• Attack! Attack! Attack!: If you decide to spam Double Spinning Edge, which is a multihit Art that recharges itself every time it crits. Combine that with Rex's Critical Hit Machine status, and you have almost nonstop damage as you cancel Double Spinning Edge into itself until you inevitably Draw Aggro and get incapacitated. And incapacitation resets a character's aggro, so you just need to land 8 auto-attacks and you're back to spinning.
• Ambiguously Related:
  • By proxy of Nia being implied to be Mio's mother, it is also implied that Rex may be Mio's father. This would in turn imply he's an ancestor to Matthew and Na'el, as they're confirmed to be descendants of N and M, and that he's an ancestor to Houses Vandham and Doyle.
  • Glimmer is confirmed to be an incarnation of Rex's daughter, and it's heavily implied that Pyra is her mother.
• Anger Born of Worry: When he reunites with his daughter, Glimmer (albeit with her not knowing he is her father, let alone what a parent even is), his first instinct to admonish her for being so careless in trying to return to Agnus, noting that she nearly got herself killed and endangered the rest of the Liberators. The fact that she lashes out at them for interrupting her chance at reaching Homecoming probably doesn't help as it's not unlike her own mother's wish for her own death like it was a good thing, which Rex had to snap her and her aunt out of.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: His skill Lightspeed Blade allows Rex to ignore enemy defense if he lands a critical hit. His Talent Art, Infinity Blade, also ignores defense.
• Babies Ever After: Before Aionios, Rex ended up having children with Pyra, Mythra, and Nia.
• Baritone of Strength: In Future Redeemed, Rex has a deeper voice to match his more muscular body.
• BFS: The twin Aegis Blades are already huge, but Rex can fuse them into an even bigger sword based on Pneuma's emerald Aegis Blade.
• Battle Couple: In the Archsage's Gauntlet mode of the main game, he can fight alongside Queen Nia, one of his wives, if both are unlocked. However, being a non-canon mode focused on gameplay, they don't have any special interactions with each other. Funnily enough, if playing as Mio in her default Zephyr class, the three of them form a Damager, Healer, Tank trio that also (implicitly) counts as a Badass Family.
• Bifurcated Weapon: Rex can combine his swords into a green one that resembles Pneuma's.
• Boisterous Bruiser: According to the description of his statue, Rex was rather joyful and free-spirited to the point he influenced the other Founders.
• Bragging Rights Reward: He and Shulk can be recruited as Heroes via the Challenge Battle mode only after the base game and Future Redeemed are beaten. However, their classes can't be used by the main cast, and there are no story scenes with them.
• Call-Back: He's wielding Pyra and Mythra's blades, but dual wielding like Mòrag and Vandham did, and shares several of their Art animations, as well as a detached bottom-cape split down the middle the same way that Mòrag's was. He's missing an eye, and his weapons are referred to as great swords, while he rocks a longcoat look and a Launch Art; Zeke used a great sword and wore an eyepatch and a longcoat, and Pandoria gave him a Launch Art that wasn't position-based. Current Rex is basically a giant nod to his party in his game.
• Canon Character All Along: Future Redeemed confirms that Founder Cassini's mentor was indeed Rex all along.
• Cassandra Truth: Rex's claim that he was once swallowed by the Urayan Mountains goes over the head of the party, who think he's joking. Of course, they are not aware that the mountains was originally a living creature.
• Character Development: In contrast to 2, where he was a static Supporting Protagonist, he's much more dynamic here, with an arc about learning to put more faith in Glimmer and be honest with her about his feelings.
• Composite Character: His older appearance takes a lot of inspiration from his mentor Vandham, as well as Mòrag (his dual-wielding attack animations) and Zeke (his lost eye and general build), while his role in general is similar to his implied ancestor Addam in Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country, as an older legendary swordsman and father figure to a Bratty Teenage Daughter.
• Cool Sword: Like in his youth, he wields Pyra's Aegis Sword in battle. However, now that he's older and more muscular, he's also able to wield Mythra's Aegis Sword at the same time, and uses both in battle. Notably, these aren't his wives' actual swords, but are replicas that serve as his personal Blade (as per the XC3 definition of the term).
• Critical Hit Class: Rex's main damaging Art, Double Spinning Edge, gains additional recharge on critical hits. In general, his Skills mainly focus on increasing his chance to get a critical hit, increasing the damage he does when he gets a critical hit damage, or are modified by critical hits. After factoring in all his Skills and weapon upgrades, without even taking into account Accessories, Rex's natural Crit chance can be as high as 80%
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: When Rex calls forth and subsequently puts away his Blade, he reaches for the back of his hips—the same place he sheathed the Aegis sword back in 2. Nearly every other character just materializes their Blade in front of them, picks it up, and then prepares for battle.
• Dual Wielding: Was said to have wielded two massive swords in the description for Founder Cassini's statue. In the Story Expansion teaser, he is seen wielding both Aegis Swords while confronting Alvis alongside Shulk. This does echo the fighting style of his comrade (and wife) Nia, who similarly wields her own copies of the Aegis' signature weapons as a Hero.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Aside from his statue in the Memorial Hall, Rex first appears as an adult in Nia's photograph at the end of the base game; unlike his statue, it is very clearly indicated to be him with the rest of his party from 2.
• Eye Scream: He lost his eye in the first battle with Alvis. He admits to Glimmer that he got sloppy in that fight and paid for it, but adds that he also kinda likes it since it reminds him of someone he admires (namely Zeke).
• Future Badass: In 2, Rex was rather short, and sometimes struggled with the power of the Aegis. Now he can dual-wield two massive blades like nothing, due to his muscle gain.
• Glass Cannon: Rex can do insane damage quickly, easily throwing out massive critical hits with Double Spinning Edge, and keep doing so because of the recharge on it. However, this means he can quickly steal aggro from enemies because of the sheer amount of damage he does quickly, making him easy to go down in response. So unless used carefully, Rex can do an immense amount of damage, and then get killed quickly by the enemy.
• Handicapped Badass: Losing an eye hasn't slowed down Rex one bit, though as shown in one cutscene it has given him an expected blind spot.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: He regards his and Shulk's attempt to stop Alpha to have been a massive failure, stating that they essentially lost, were swatted away like flies, and only managed to buy a little time. However, A is quite a bit more encouraging in their account of the battle, stating that Alpha experienced substantial frustration in the fight — substantial to the point that they decided they were not powerful enough without an avatar. It's indicated they even managed to crack his Core Crystal, leaving him vulnerable for a time even after powering up with an Avatar.
• Humble Hero: Despite all the achievements Rex obtained in his home game, if the photo is anything to go by, Rex eventually settled in Fonsett Village in Leftheria — his hometown — and started a family before Aionios occurred.
• Hunk: Contrasting Shulk's Long-Haired Pretty Boy looks, Rex as an adult is ruggedly handsome — complete with Manly Facial Hair — and is very muscular.
• I Got Bigger: Did he ever. He went from a short and scrawny teenager in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to the physical embodiment of manliness.
• Irony: Because of how Aionios works, Rex manifests the Firelight Swords from his own body rather than carrying them around as extensions of the Blade beings from Alrest. This is how said Blade beings manifest their own weapons, as seen when they wield them in Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: Notably so. In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Rex was fifteen years old and looked the part, being a short and somewhat scrawny youth. 3 shows that he's beefed up significantly, grown a beard, and gained a deeper voice in the years since then. He now resembles his equally large statured comrade Zeke, and even his implied ancestor Addam. To put it in comparison, Shulk was around a head taller than Rex when he appeared in 2's DLC — now Rex is taller than him, instead.
• Manly Facial Hair: By the time of Aionios, Rex has grown a goatee to match his more buff appearance.
• Manly Man: Future Redeemed shows Rex has become a paragon of idealized masculinity. He's become very muscular and attractive, he's become very confident in himself as a leader, and he displays great aptitude in combat with his dual swords. He's also an accomplished cook, plays with the colony children, and explains the concept of non-binary gender.
• Marry Them All: It's strongly implied that between 2 and 3, he ended up marrying Pyra, Mythra, and Nia.
• Nice Guy: While a tad harsher when scolding someone, Rex is still the same kind-hearted young man he was in 2. When talking to Glimmer in private, he reveals that the reason he fights is to bring smiles to everyone.
• Older and Wiser: No longer the naive and always worried hero he once was, he's matured considerably after saving Alrest from Malos and meeting the Architect/Klaus, even saving the Liberators from Glimmer's foolish mistake of leading the first Consul/Moebius W to them.
• One-Handed Zweihänder: While back in 2 he needed both hands to properly handle Pyra/Mythra/Pneuma's Blade, thanks to his bulk up, he can now one-hand Pyra and Mythra's swords at the same time with no visible loss in skill or speed.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Rex, the All-Loving Hero of 2 who couldn't bring himself to even hate Amalthus or Malos, calls Alvis a "heartless machine" in in the opening cutscene of Future Redeemed. In this case, he is being quite literal about Alpha's amorality and programming.
  • He's uncharacteristically harsh when dealing with Glimmer, scolding her for endangering everyone, ignoring the consequences for her actions, and when she breaks down crying and screaming how she's lost her meaning in life, he bluntly tells her friends are dead and to blame Moebius, not Keves. When Linka calls him out for this, it's immediately clear that Glimmer is his daughter, and he's struggling with his parental feelings towards someone who doesn't even know what a family is, and almost got everyone killed for stupid reasons to boot.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Discussed and Defied. While he underscores that he isn't dying per se, replacing Alpha as the avatar of Origin doesn't allow him to do much of anything to affect the outside world. That, and everyone who died permanently during the Endless Now was revived along with the two worlds once Noah and friends finally succeeded.
  Rex: It's a weird and twisted world out there, but you know...I can't watch a kid go before their parent. I'm not letting that happen, no way.
  Shulk: I'll do anything that's in my power too. Even if it costs us our lives...
• Parental Substitute: Like with Shulk and Panacea (Founder Reid), Rex shares this dynamic with Linka (Founder Cassini), whom he's taken under his wing and also cares for her as if a parent would, such as preparing her favorite meal (or at least trying to) for her birthday. Considering that Linka is all but said to be Zeke and Pandoria's daughter, it makes sense that he would look after her in a familial manner during their absence.
• Parents as People: Despite clearly realizing that Glimmer is his daughter the moment he sees her, Rex isn't really sure how to handle being her father due to how different her life has been as an Agnian soldier, presumably because of how much time has passed since he's had to be a father while in Aionios. He tells Shulk he's a bit envious of his relationship with Nikol, since Nikol and him get along quickly and Nikol comes across as more well-behaved. Shulk suggests that, rather than force himself to act like a parent, he should be himself and connect to Glimmer on that front.
• Perma-Stubble: He's grown out a goatee and a permanent five o'clock shadow along with it in conjunction with having become a more proactive man of action.
• Previous Player-Character Cameo: Implied in the base game, as the statue depicting him heavily resembles how Rex appeared in Nia's photograph at the end of the game. Confirmed in Future Redeemed, where his appearance matches the mentor of Founder Cassini and sees him wielding both Aegis Swords.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He's a Bruiser with a Soft Center who loves to cook and has a complex understanding of gender identity as it pertains to A.
• Red Baron: Stoutheart Rex. Likely a reference to both his big heart and Determination.
• Supreme Chef: It seems Pyra taught him a thing or three about cooking after the events of 2, as he has multiple side quests about him making meals for others.
• Team Dad: Between him and Shulk, he's the strict disciplinarian, more overprotective, and stereotypically masculine of the two. Somewhat downplayed, as he's not above more stereotypically maternal duties like being the Team Chef and being good with children due to his All-Loving Hero personality.
• Time-Shifted Actor: For the English dub, he has a different voice actor to go with his age.
• Took a Level in Badass: More notable than Shulk. Not only did Rex become more frank and bold in his statement, but he gained massive muscles that allowed him to double-wield two Aegis-like blades. Blocking a laser from a Ferronis with his combined sword doesn't even faze him.
• Too Many Belts: He wears eight belts total: two across his chest, two around his waist, and two on each thigh, causing him to resemble his mentor Zeke.
• Tough Love: Rex, after reuniting with Glimmer and hearing her actions nearly got everyone killed, scolds her for her reckless action and how she should move on from the death of her comrades. In the end, Rex apologizes for what he said, but Glimmer later understands that what she did was wrong and apologizes in return.
• Unblockable Attack: Infinity Blade can't be blocked, and Rex can learn a special skill that makes all of his attacks unblockable.
• Was Too Hard on Her: Immediately after chewing out Glimmer for selfishly endangering everyone's lives, he and Linka have moment where she calls him out for being too harsh, to which he agrees. However, seeing his daughter after Architect knows how long and her risking everyone's safety clouded his judgement. For the rest of the game his attitude towards her is much softer, and he eventually apologises for his actions.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: His wives Pyra and Mythra are mysteriously absent; while their Core is embedded in Matthew's gauntlets, it's never explained what happened to them as beings. Rex's Firelight Swords aren't their actual swords, but are instead an XC3-type Blade that he materializes himself. According to Word of God, the Ouroboros Gauntlets also contain their souls and wills, and it can be surmised that they incarnated as such long before Rex ever arrived in Aionios.

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