Fridge / Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed

Fridge is for post-viewing discussion, so all spoilers are unmarked.

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Fridge Brilliance

• The original Ghondor being the son of N and M puts a whole new spin on why House Vandham and the younger Ghondor specifically chose to help Noah and Mio; Noah and Mio are reincarnations of their ancestors, as the older Ghondor's grandson Matthew is both a descendant of N and M and the Founder of House Vandham, something that the younger Ghondor was aware of given that she worked with M to subvert N's plans during 3.
• Minor one: In the base game, Ghondor complained multiple times about her name. Here, Matthew's grandfather is named Ghondor. Meaning it's a very old Vandham male name. This both explains why Monica would give it to her daughter and why said daughter would hate it anyway.
• Most people in Aionios summon their Blades simply by holding their hands in front of themselves as if plucking them from thin air. Shulk and Rex, however, still make the motion to retrieve/stow their weapons as if they are in actual sheathes (Shulk reaches for his back, Rex reaches for his hips) out of simple muscle memory.
• Once again, Chain Attack TP makes for an interesting reflection on the characters' personalities:
  • Unsurprisingly Matthew and Rex both have 15 TP due to being Dumb Muscle, with Matthew especially having a propensity to act first and think later, and Rex being depicted as a Kindhearted Simpleton in 2. Likewise, Rex's optimal gameplay strategy involves him charging into battle and doing as much damage as he can with Double Spinning Edge before immediately getting wiped out by all the enemy ire he pulls.
  • A has the highest at 30 TP because being the personification of a supercomputer with the ability to foresee the future helps deal with many tactical situations. At the same time, A isn't omniscient because as they admit the future is not set in stone, and because they are the "human" side of Alvis/Ontos, rather than the cold analytical side.
  • Shockingly Shulk is the second lowest at only 20 TP despite being established as a genius Science Hero and one of the smartest people in the entire setting. But this makes sense when you consider that TP stands for tactical points and not for intelligence in general and that the first game had a running gag of Shulk's Book Smarts coming at the expense of a lot of basic social awareness. Not to mention he was more of a researcher than a soldier and only participated in direct combat once he was forced to by the Mechon invasion. It also gives him an identical value to Valdi, who is extremely similar to him in terms of personality and Skewed Priorities. Shulk is also noted in the story to be a bit unsure of his strength, and he looks extremely tired, making it fair to assume that Shulk isn't at his prime both physically and mentality.
  • Nikol and Glimmer meanwhile have the second highest at 25 TP, since both are standard Aionios soldiers. They spent their entire lives trained in conducting warfare, so they are fairly knowledgeable in battle tactics.
• The reveal that Origin is powered by Ontos and constructed based on their own Core makes a ton of sense. Alvis did display power capable of forming an entire world (though they could not use this power of their own volition, requiring someone else to make the decisions). For all their knowledge and power, to actually remake their worlds would have been beyond the abilities of the people of Alrest and Bionis without access to power linked to something like the Conduit. Ontos was the closest thing to such power in an intact state after the Conduit left, since Logos was killed, and Pneuma became Pyra and Mythra. It also shows why Origin was so susceptible to the myriad human fears and desires contained within it, affected by them just as the Aegises (including Ontos) were. Likewise, it was clear that Origin was a collaborative project made with significant contributions from both worlds; just as the base game showed that Alrest provided Origin with the Core Crystal technology to save everyone's souls, Future Redeemed shows that the people of Bionis and Mechonis were able to provide something just as valuable.
  • The existence of Aionios as a floating landmass amidst an endless ocean likewise mirrors the existence of the Bionis and Mechonis.
• House Doyle is one of the more conservative Houses in the Second City and expresses a great focus on defense and avoiding conflict with Moebius and those they control (and also prioritizes the protection of young people in the City). Na'el's disdain for Kevesi and Agnians and desire to simply live apart from their conflicts, to the point that Alpha found her a suitable host for his plans to wipe out the people of the old worlds, clearly made it through to her descendants. On the positive side, so did her care for children and desire to avoid sacrificing lives.
• Rex is fittingly the one to briefly bring up the aspect of Core Crystals being genetic and able to be passed down to children. He's the father of at least one such child (and implied two more).
• The reveal that the leader of the Saviorites was Dimitri Yuriev explains a lot of why Klaus became so desperate to harness the Zohar before they got their hands on it. Yuriev, being a Godhood Seeker, would likely have used it to make himself a god, not caring what kind of damage he inflicted on the world. Klaus was trying to make all of humanity better, meaning that he would view someone whose desires he hated on a personal level gaining power as a mortal threat to existence - and given who Yuriev is, it's hard to say that was a bad idea. Of course, that just adds extra irony to Klaus accidentally making himself a god twice.
• Rex and Glimmer:
  • Their first interaction, with Rex harshly scolding Glimmer, ignoring her pain, and telling her to just get over her dead friends. This might seem out of character, but considering how Rex could be reckless in his youth, it makes more sense. Glimmer was demonstrating some of the worst aspects of himself and Mythra (see Rex's first reaction to Vandham's sacrifice, and Mythra destroying Torna in a blind rage), so he was trying to get her to avoid the same mistakes. Furthermore, not only has he lost many friends himself (so he knows how that can drive someone to bad places), but he's also aware that after Origin restarts everyone will be fine back in Alrest. To top it all off, this might have been an attempt to invoke O.O.C. Is Serious Business on his part; if your Bumbling Dad suddenly acts dead serious, you'll be inclined to listen. But since she doesn't remember him, it comes off as almost cruel.
  • Glimmer is most frustrated that she is unable to make it to Homecoming because of the heroes. Glimmer knows full well what Homecoming is (which unlike the modern ceremony isn't even a peaceful death nor would it remove her from the cycle, though she doesn't know that last part) but she sees it as repentance for surviving when her allies did not as well as an escape from war. This likely reminded Rex of Pyra and Mythra's suicidal ideation and his own regret over being unable to understand what "going to Elysium" meant for them, which adds extra pointedness to his stern behavior.
  • If the Consuls have installed the fake queens as rulers of Agnus and Keves by the time of Future Redeemed, Glimmer, as a soldier of Agnus, would be trying to return her life to "Queen Nia" - or, put another way, "going home" to the only family member she could easily find in Aionios' hellscape, whether she knows it or not.
• Ouroboros' heavy association with destruction and the end, as well as the heavy purple theming around N and Noah's sword abilities, called Malos and his destructive abilities to mind for many. The final scene of Matthew revealing Pneuma's core within his glove as well as a suspicious zoom on N's Sword of the End heavily hints that the connection was more than just a thematic Mythology Gag and that somehow N or a past life of Noah was able to come across Logos/Malos' core the same way Na'El came across Ontos' core, and that is what grants the Sword of the End the power it has. Conversely, the Ouroboros Stones and Noah's gauntlet, which gave off a faint green glow in the original game, are confirmed to be powered by Pneuma's abilities to balance it out.
  • Furthermore, Logos' core powering the Sword of the End now connects Noah/N to a Trinity Processor core, as Shulk and Rex were; Shulk wielded the original Monado powered by Ontos (Alvis), Rex was the Driver of Pneuma (Pyra and Mythra) and thus wielded their respective Aegis Swords, while Noah/N wields the Sword of the End as powered by Logos (Malos). With that in mind, it also makes sense that out of the three protagonists, only Noah was the one who at some point went astray and served his enemies, given Malos' antagonistic role in 2.
  • In general, the reveal about N's possession of Logos ends up rounding the trilogy out so that each of its protagonists represents one of the three members of the Trinity Processors. Shulk wielded Ontos, Rex wielded Pneuma, and N/Noah wields Logos.
  • The fact that N's sword is called the Sword of the End may likewise have also been foreshadowing his connection to Logos, given that Malos was once known as the Endbringer. And for fridge funny, it also makes N calling Matthew's Blade "the Fists of the End" even stupider; since they're powered by Pneuma's core, they are the antithesis of the end. If anything, they should be called the Fists of Origin. Which also fits in with how the main Noah's Blade is alternatively called the Sword of Origin and the Sword of the End, as his sword has both cores.
• It's very fitting that N would become the implied new wielder of the Logos Core Crystal, given the heavy parallels between him and Jin in 2. Malos swore that Jin was his true raison d'être and reason for living, so it's only fitting that Logos would end up in the hands of a person who thought similarly as Jin did.
  • There is some Fridge Heartwarming for the end of 2, when Malos expressed some lament for the fact that he was twisted to evil by having such a vile and cruel man for his Driver. Although Logos does not create a new Blade in 3, for all the evils that N/Noah commits he is a fundamentally decent person at his core, allowing Logos to finally have a kind master who utilizes his destructive power for good instead of evil by using him to destroy things that need it, since unregulated creation/lack of destruction ultimately results in stagnation.
• While there's some confusion over how Logos could even be in Origin given that Malos died at the end of 2 from having his core shattered, the ending of 2 already implied he hadn't truly died, given that his Core Crystal is still shown to be powering Aion according to its UI after his supposed death, and his voice (who can be presumed to be Logos' true personality) can be heard speaking to Pneuma as she activates it. Meaning that while his Core was damaged, some part of him still lingered on to be preserved in Origin for Noah's use.
• Likewise, Rex's debated comment of "if only those two were still here", which is implied to include Logos/Malos, might seem strange at first given that Malos's goal was to destroy all of Alrest, and thus some believe that he would have supported Alpha's goal of destroying the old world. However, it's been noted before that Malos isn't a cruel sadist by nature, but was only influenced by a combination of Amalthus's wicked heart and Jin's Well-Intentioned Extremist nihilism, and Rex himself believes that good did exist in Malos, and wishes that in a better world he and Malos/Logos could be friends. And again, some form of Logos willingly helped Pneuma to save Alrest from destruction at the end of 2. It's both in-character and well-founded for him to have faith in Logos/Malos siding with him to stop Alpha.
• The Sword of Origin/Sword of the End being such an Absurdly Sharp Blade makes even more sense if it's powered up by Malos's Monado. After all, Malos's Monado was shown to destroy anything it could come into contact with.
• The three Xenoblade protagonists' relationships with Origin neatly parallel the roles their respective Trinity Processors occupy in the top Hindu deities and their roles in the cycle:
  • Shulk is associated with Ontos, and through it The Power of Creation (also seen in Brahma). Just as he used his brief period of godhood in the past to create a world free of gods, it's also very heavily implied that he was the head scientist behind the creation of Bionis's half of Origin, and is at the very bare minimum responsible for its programming the internal architecture. Essentially Shulk, in providing the technology upon which Aionios was built, created a world once again, which also makes him a Mirror Character to Klaus and his incarnations, as Shulk's goals are far more benevolent, humble, and hopeful in nature.
  • Rex is associated with Pneuma, and through it the role of preserver and protector (also seen in Vishnu). His goals throughout the story of 2 were to ensure Alrest's maintained existence in the face of Amalthus's attempted omnicide, and on a smaller scale, his All-Loving Hero nature convinces the two incarnations of Pneuma to continue their existence instead of pursuing death. While Rex did not contribute directly to the creation or destruction of Aionios, he plays a key role in protecting its existence against Alpha's attempts against it. Rex also states that his primary goal in fighting is less to alter the fundamental nature of the world and more to make sure that everyone living in it can be happy.
  • Noah, as the implied wielder of Logos, represents a Destroyer Deity and the more benevolent aspects of destruction (also seen in Shiva and to a lesser extent Vishnu's avatar Kalki). His role is to bring an end to the tortured and morally bankrupt existence of Aionios. In this sense he represents a Mirror Character for Logos's previous masters Amalthus and Jin; whereas Amalthus was a cruel man who wanted to mass murder the inhabitants of Alrest against their wills out of his own misanthropy, and whereas Jin was consumed by fatalism, Noah brings an end to Aionios with the consent of the leaders of Keves, Agnus, and the City, in part to give birth to a better existence, and also because he believes dying with agency is more ethical than immortality as a slave.
• Implications of the radio:
  • Na'el's hopeful speech about how perfect this world is is contrasted with the news of human rights laws failing to make legislation, people wanting to live off-planet, and the general feeling that something foreboding is going to happen. Even before we are directly reminded of the fate of this world, Na'el's idealized views were flawed from the start.
  • On that note, considering the intro events of Xenoblade X was also mentioned on the radio, it may even be possible that the war between the Ganglion and Ghosts over Earth was happening at literally the same time as Yuriev's men launching their assault on the Beanstalk. With half the planet already being destroyed by two unbeatable advanced alien armies, and Yuriev making his play to obtain the Zohar, suddenly Klaus initiating the phase experiment doesn't seem so reckless anymore, but rather a last ditch effort to try something, anything that might stave off the complete destruction of humanity. Taken together, it provides full context to what Klaus meant in 2 when he said he activated The Conduit in the midst of a conflict on a scale that "dwarfed" what Malos was currently doing.
• Most of Rex's skills as a unit reference Pyra or Mythra (or both) and use their powers (or some approximation of them), as if his wives are still with him and supporting him in spirit even though they are physically separated. It is perhaps not surprising then that Rex is by far the most powerful unit in the game given how powerful the Aegises are. It also harkens back to the oft-repeated adage from 2 that Driver and Blade are one in body and soul. Only Nia gets left out, but Rex could only hold two swords at a time and her fighting style doesn't mesh well with Pyra and Mythra's in one person.
• It may seem odd that the worlds had to reform separately at all if they were simply to merge again, but this was what Origin was designed to do, to remake everything as it had been before the merging. It was not equipped to make the unknowable result of the worlds merging. So then why would the worlds proceed to merge again and successfully? First, remaking the worlds as they were meant that the "yearning" they had for each other was also remade. There was only one difference now. The first Intersection destroyed both worlds completely, because (as Shulk explains) they were composed of opposite types of matter and (as Nia explained) canceled each other out. However, the rebooted worlds were made from the "words of light" encoded in Origin, the light that remained after the two worlds annihilated each other. Because both worlds were now made of the same thing, they could merge safely.
• The new Trinity Processor:
  • Shulk and Rex being chosen as the new Trinity Processor makes sense based on their characters. Shulk is very logical and has great insight into machines and how they work, fitting the stand-in for Logos. Conversely, Rex is free-spirited and inspires others to take action and make changes, fitting for Pneuma. Both Shulk's logic and Rex's empathy help A (Ontos) to make a human decision to give Nikol and Glimmer extra time in Aionios.
  • Their family lives fit the themes as well. Shulk only has one wife and one child, which is fairly simple and nothing too out of the ordinary. Rex, however, seemingly has three wives and three kids, fitting the theme of free-spirited and the opposite of "logic" to Logos.
  • While Shulk being assigned Logos might initially feel like an odd choice in the context of his being Ontos' Driver and having no direct connection with the Logos Core Crystal or Malos like N/Noah did, it actually fits very well with the plot and themes of 1. In order to create the new world seen at the end of 1, Shulk first had to do the very Logos-like act of destroying/overwriting the old one - underscored by the names of the Telethia (Endbringer) and Melia's World Ender staff. The primary difference from what Noah does in 3 is that in 1, Zanza already put the world in its death thrones and so Shulk was performing a Mercy Kill to hasten the process of rebirth, which he had more control over, whereas in 3, Aionios is in a similarly decrepit condition but refuses to die because of Moebius, hence Noah must take proactive steps to kill the world so that Ontos can finish the process of rebirth and renewal.
    • Likewise, Logos is posited as the Son of the trinity, associated with Jesus Christ, to contrast with the Father or the Holy Spirit. An ironic designation for Malos considering his villainy and the fact that it's Amalthus who displays any Dark Messiah traits. However, the reveal of Malos's Monado Arts in 2 paints him as an ironic mirror of Shulk, who is the most conventionally Christ-like of the three protagonists, so even if Malos as the incarnation of Logos may not display any traits that might connect him to Jesus, he exists as a Mirror Character of someone who does.
    • Furthermore, if Shulk being the host of Logos substitute Zanza serves as the in-universe reason for why he takes over as Logos, then in Rex's case, more than just being the Driver of Pneuma, he also literally served as a host for Pneuma due to Pyra placing a part of her essence within him to bring him back to life, in a more positive version of when Zanza revived Shulk by possessing him.
  • Inversely, Shulk and Rex ironically grew to resemble the two embodiments of the Trinity Processors in different ways. Rex became tall with a Heroic Build and spiky hair that makes him somewhat resemble Malos/Logos, whereas Shulk's long hair has been considered as resembling Mythra's, making him a visual stand-in for her/Pneuma.
  • In addition, Shulk and Rex make suitable replacements for Logos and Pneuma due to their many opposing differences. Respectively Shulk and Rex are Defender vs Attacker, from Bionis vs from Alrest, (relatively) feminine versus masculine, have contrasting hair and eye colors, intellectual vs emotional, Brains and Brawn, Gadgeteer Genius who developed futuristic technology vs Adventurer Archaeologist who excavated the past, reserved vs bombastic, melancholy and responsible vs cheerful and gregarious, doting and nurturing vs strict and forbidding), and so on. The key difference is that these contrasts are the kind that complement and harmonize with one another as part of a Red Oni, Blue Oni, like yin and yang, and like the metaseries' recurring themes of animus and anima, rather than fundamentally conflicting as Mythra/Pyra and Malos were in 2, causing them to provide a suitably healthy and stable foundation to maintain Aionios for as long as they can.
• Future Redeemed has a habit of placing Rex on the left side and Shulk on the right side. Some of this may be for practical reasons, as Rex is blind in his left eye, and thus it may be safer for Shulk to stay to his right to avoid getting caught in his blind spot by accident. But it's also consistent with imagery shown in the base game. Keves, which is derived from the world of the Bionis, is usually associated with the right eye, while Agnus, which is derived from Alrest, corresponds to the left eye. The final cutscene also shows Shulk on the right side of the screen facing towards the left as he speaks his final lines, and Rex on the left side of the screen facing rightward, as if the both of them are in conversation with each other and with A in the middle, reiterating the sided imagery of the two.
• Related to the above, the association of Rex, Shulk, and A with specific directional orientations ties back into the imagery of the Tree of Life and the Path of the Sefiroth, a motif that has featured prominently in the franchise since Xenogears, and which is associated with the Wave Existence, whom Ontos/Alvis/Alpha/A are an Expy of. The Sefiroth are split into three distinct pillars, representing forces which oppose but also need and strengthen each other, just as Rex and Shulk contrast each other but in ways that help them live in harmony, unlike the more vicious divide between Pneuma/Logos and Ouroboros/Moebius.
  • Shulk is associated with the right side, corresponding to masculinity, creation, and generative force, befitting his role as the creator of a world in 1 and as one of the key architects of Origin. The Sefiroth he embodies are:
    • Chokhmah, or Wisdom: Shulk's most prominent character trait is his genius intellect, and a lot of emphasis is placed on his wisdom and the knowledge he's gained over the years. Although he can easily get lost in his head, Rex is there to ground him. Appropriately enough, the name of one of the cities in his world is Alcamoth, which comes from the word Achamoth, a cognate to "chokhmah" found in Gnostic lore.
    • Chesed, or Loving-Kindness: Compared to Rex, Shulk takes a more conciliatory and merciful approach in his relations with others, and his mode of parenting is outwardly soft and doting. His gentleness is a helpful counterbalance to Rex's harshness.
    • Netzach, or Endurance/Victory: Also known as drive and the desire to overcome adversity. While Shulk and Rex are both equally in charge of the Liberators, Shulk has proper military credentials and is presented as the more proactive and responsible (and correspondingly more stressed from overwork, which Rex helps him stay on top of) of the two when it comes to formal leadership of the fight against Moebius. This aspect of his personality is also reflected by his class being a Defender, for whom victory through endurance is their primary role.
  • Rex is associated with the left side, corresponding to femininity, restraint, guidance, and receptive power. Fittingly, his role in 2 was to save Alrest from itself by accepting those who had lost their way and steering them towards a healthy direction. The Sefiroth he embodies are:
    • Binah, or Understanding: Rex's most defining character trait is his endless compassion, and though he is a Working-Class Hero lacking in formal education or Shulk's scientific knowledge, his emotional intelligence is very high. In 2, Rex typically played a more passive role in the story as a Supporting Protagonist to Pyra/Mythra, who were more proactive leads.
    • Gevurah, or Strength-Judgment: As good-natured as he is, Rex is also an example of Good Is Not Nice, and tends to take a stricter approach towards parenting and disciplining Nikol and Glimmer. He thus complements Shulk's overly-soft approach with a dose of Tough Love.
    • Hod, or Glory: Associated with humility and submission. Rex is no doormat, but he is strongly characterized by his humility and willingness to accept a passive and supportive role, pursuing action mainly for the benefit of others. Just as he was the Supporting Protagonist to the more active protagonists Pyra and Mythra in 2, providing them with a Living Emotional Crutch and seeking Elysium for their benefit, he is also willing to defer to Shulk in various formal leadership duties for the Liberators. Likewise, he's also the one to humbly accept and learn from Shulk's parenting advice and concede to Nikol and Glimmer's desire to help their fight.
  • A embodies the virtues of the center pillar of the Sefiroth, associated with gender neutrality, harmony, and balance. Very fitting considering A's own androgynous gender identity. The Sefiroth they embody are:
    • Keter, or Crown: Keter represents hidden divine knowledge, transcendence, and untapped potential, and gives form to all the other Sefiroth. A is an embodiment of Ontos and a stand-in for the Ein Sof/Monad aka God, who gave form to everything within Origin. A also expresses that their foresight can only predict potential futures and that it falls upon others to make it a reality.
  • Da'at, or Knowledge: Da'at represents tangible knowledge made real, as opposed to the divine inspiration of Keter. By working with the people of the City and the Liberators and utilizing the power of Visions, A is able to turn the potential future into an actuality.
  • Tiferet, or Beauty: Represents reasoned compassion. A is stoic and rational but also has the compassion to reject the Cold Equation set up by the inhuman Alpha, deeming that the inhabitants of the old world are just as deserving of life as the people of the City. A also pragmatically gives Rex and Shulk the leeway to extend their children's lifespans, even though it goes against the rules of Origin.
  • Yesod, or Foundation: Also understood as translation or transmission, communicating the divine into the material world. A is an incarnation of the divine Ontos manifesting its will unto humanity. A's androgyny encompasses this masculine-coded force.
  • Malkhuth, or Kingdom: Also known as Shekhinah, aka the reception of divinity into the material world itself. A is a representative of Ontos, who is responsible for the earthly manifestation of Aionios, and A accepts the input of others such as Matthew, Shulk, and Rex and makes their will into reality. A's androgyny encompasses this feminine-coded force.
• Rex being the Team Chef, or at least being the giver of a good chunk of the recipes, makes sense. He was already cooking for himself at age 15 even before meeting Pyra, and with her around to show him a thing or three in the culinary arts, he only got better from there.
• Riku reveals/hints that Lucky Seven, being made of Origin metal, possesses the memories (and perhaps even the souls) of Shulk's old friends and family, outright saying Melia told him there are very important people inside it. The reason it's called Lucky Seven is because it has the memories of seven people (Fiora, Reyn, Sharla, Dunban, Riki, Kino, and Nene), and its Monado-esque powers are in a way also a Call-Back to how the Monado III in 1 was formed from lights emanating from the entire party. Meanwhile, with the metal that makes up the Fists of the End/Veiled Sword having either the Pneuma core or a replica of it embedded within, it also means that Lucky Seven carries the memories of Pyra and Mythra by the time Noah comes to wield it - and when Noah accepts N as part of himself near the end of 3, it also means that he now wields Malos' memories, due to it being implied that N's Sword of the End has Logos' core as opposed to Pneuma's.
• Riku mentions that his dadapon was a friend of Melia's who traveled with her for some time. This could mean Riki, but all of Riki's children were pink or yellow like their parents, meaning that it's likely to be Kino. Which makes sense, because besides the colors matching better, Kino was shown to be an avid tech adept who created his own Ether Cannon. Also, it's likely he was named Riku in honor of Kino's adoptive father who he admired so much, and it also perfectly ties into Future Redeemed's themes of the youth carrying on the legacy of their forebears, and how adoptive children are just as important at doing so as biological ones. It also ties the addition of Riki's children as party members in the otherwise self-contained Future Connected to the rest of the series.
• Matthew has an accent that some fans have compared to a Roadman's. This accent is called Multicultural London English, which is a result of different accents from different cultures combined into one. It's fitting for a man whose ancestors came from different worlds.
• The identity of Consul A or whether they even existed was a subject of debate prior to Future Redeemed, but it's made clear in Future Redeemed why there isn't a Consul A among the Moebius:
  • Back in the first game during Zanza's defeat, Alvis declared that "I was there at the beginning, and I will proclaim the end" — A says that in Aionios only they and Alpha are worthy of bearing the title of "the Beginning", and the conflict of Future Redeemed is spurred by Alpha appearing and declaring the end for Aionios and everyone in it. In other words, Z won't give any Consul the designation of A because the "endless now" can only be endless if it has no beginning or end.
  • Additionally, there's also the fact that just as how Z was born from Origin as a result of the human desire for an "endless now", Alpha was born from Origin as well - but unlike Z being the embodiment of human fear and emotion in order to declare the "endless now" for the people of the Bionis and Alrest, Alpha eschews humanity and decides that total oblivion is the only solution. Alpha is the opposite of Z in that regard, and what is usually referred to as being the "opposite" of Alpha in the Greek alphabet? Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet, just as how Z is the last letter of the Latin alphabet. Alpha is quite literally everything that Z stands against, so it's no wonder that he won't grant any ordinary Moebius the designation of A.
  • I's files mention there are 26 Moebius, it's very likely Z intentionally keeps the number of Moebius inflated by 1 to make sure there isn't a Mobeius A, with only Z, Y, X, and N likely in the know.
• Pneuma being the source of Ouroboros power tracks a lot with the mechanics of Ouroboros: the need for a strong affinity with another person (which are the standard mechanics of a Blade and Driver); the ability to combine into someone stronger than either (like Pyra and Mythra combining into Pneuma); the ability to switch between two different forms on the fly (again, like Pyra and Mythra); and Ouroboros' ability to use and conjure any Blade, change classes, and instantly learn the abilities of others (similar to the Master Driver being able to freely engage and disengage with any Blade).
  • Adding onto this; the Ouroboros Stone was said to be a gift to the people of the City from Queen Nia; 3 confirmed that she was in a polygamous relationship with Pyra and Mythra (the two incarnations of the Pneuma core) alongside Rex - so it's almost too fitting that she'd only allow the Ouroboros Stone to be powered by Pneuma.
• In the base game, the Moebius symbol's lemniscate appearance resembled the sign for infinity, representing their desire for the endless now, with Future Redeemed providing added context that they feared that the Origin experiment would not work. Meanwhile, the Ouroboros circle resembles a zero, representing their desire to end it all and start from the beginning by rebooting Origin. A's explanation as well as the final scene of the two worlds merging into one adds a great deal of additional context to those symbols. When the two worlds first reappear as a result of the successful reboot, they are notably in the same arrangement as the Moebius symbol, because Moebius was the will that kept the worlds apart, before they finally merge into a single planet that resembles the Ouroboros symbol, representing the will of both worlds to come together as one.
• The title Future Redeemed at first refers to redeeming the future of everyone in Aionios, as opposed to letting Alpha have the final judgment on Aionios being preserved or destroyed. But at the end of the game, Matthew tells N that someone will eventually come along and defeat the Moebius - and that N could possibly be that person. Therefore, Future Redeemed could also refer to the initial doubts being planted in N's mind that eventually take the form of Noah in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which will eventually lead to N's own redemption and the final defeat of Z.
  • It can also refer to Tetsuya Takahashi being able to, for the first time in his life, complete his future goal of completing a saga. Something he failed to do with Xenogears (missing five more entries) and Xenosaga (missing three entries). But with Xenoblade, he was able to complete his six-part entries and redeemed his goal.
• The battle music for Fogdweller Abaasy being the regular battle theme instead of "You Will Know Our Names Finale" or Seraphic Ceratinia's theme sounds rather out of place, but while the Unique Monster is mostly a Mythology Gag to the Avalanche Abaasy, it's also one to Demon King Dragonia, which played "Time to Fight!" when you battled it.
• Certain Unity Combo dialogue implies that A and Shulk's closeness is the result of the two essentially being a true Blade and Driver combo. Notably, A's half-cape and hairstyle look a lot like Shulk's current appearance. Thus it's implied that A looks the way A does as a result of resonating with Shulk to some degree, the same way that Haze adopted Lora's appearance when awakening.
• Much of Alvis's behavior in the original Xenoblade Chronicles 1 makes a lot more sense with the reveal that Ontos is a deliberative computer that prefers waiting and favors integrating the information provided by Pneuma and Logos.
  • It explains why Klaus and Galea were brought over with Ontos into the new world that became Bionis and Mechonis. Essentially Ontos was using Zanza and Meyneth as an ersatz Pneuma and Logos to help with decision-making, and Klaus and Galea were the closest male and female sapient beings available. Their opposition to one another mirrors the battle between generative Pneuma and destructive Logos. This also explains the different forms the Bionis and Mechonis took: Klaus, who began the experiment out of insatiable curiosity and a desire to create, became Zanza, a god of biological life, intense emotion, and light, representing an evil version of Pneuma, whereas Galea opposed the idea out of a rational fear of the unknown, and became Meyneth, a dark goddess of machinery who took a rational approach to her creations and accepted that she and Zanza would eventually die, representing a heroic version of Logos. This symbolism was already somewhat present in the first game, since Meyneth is equated to Xenosaga's Mary Magdalene, who in that game had the power of Animus (which is associated in Torna with Logos/Malos) and is balanced out by Zanza's equivalent power over Anima (which the base game of 3 associates with Pneuma). Zanza killing Meyneth massively destabilized their universe, hence Ontos needing to take matters into their own hands by preparing Shulk to take over as a new Driver. Following Shulk's defeat of Zanza, Alvis in light form, Zanza's Monado, and Meyneth's Monado even rotate together in a way highly reminiscent of Ontos, Logos, and Pneuma's placement within the Trinity Processor.
  • Likewise, this explains some things about Z's own behavior. Given that Z is an AI within Origin, which operates based on Ontos' architecture, and Z worships Ontos as a god, it makes sense that he would rather delegate most activity to X and Y, who appear to be stand-ins for Pneuma and Logos, than intervene directly.
  • Additionally, this is why A defers to Matthew. Ontos is not proactive, but Matthew very much is, making him a perfect partner for an avatar of Ontos to receive informational input off of.
• While the base game's information on Lucky Seven being forged by Melia goes towards explaining why Noah's main arts for it are Kevesi, this game reveals that the gauntlet was powered by Pneuma and originally came from the Agnian Matthew, explaining where he got the two Agnian Master Arts. The ending also reveals that the sheathe of N's sword is powered by Logos somehow, explaining why Noah's last art Harmonic Wave (which he obtains after fusing with N) is also Agnian.
• The main game left it ambiguous as to why people who reach Homecoming or who were newly born in Aionios dissolve into golden motes of light when they die, with many a theory and discussion on what it meant. The ending of ''Future Redeemed" provides the clearest evidence yet that this is what it looks like to be assimilated into Origin, as virtually the same effect occurs when Rex, Shulk, and A become its new power source and processors, and Linka reveals that Origin did indeed assimilate most living things in their organic entirety, rather than simply copy their data or absorb only their souls. This also helps explain why the "future lives" Origin had never recorded will be able to be born, their souls and perhaps bodies have been assimilated and simply need to wait for the right time to be released and born again in the merged worlds.
• A being split from Alpha by Ghondor while Alpha was possessing Na'el may have influenced A's current, feminine form as well as their strong, sibling-like bond with Matthew.
• Of course Rex would be the character to state that nonbinary gender identities make perfect sense to him. Not only was he characterized as a tolerant All-Loving Hero in 2, but his Blade Roc is also canonically nonbinary. He's used to seeing it as perfectly natural.
• A being nonbinary in gender has direct resonance with the themes of Future Redeemed. Their gender identity existing between the strict binary choices of male and female serves as a literal metaphor for their ability to reject the harsh binary being forced by Z and Alpha, instead seeking to Take a Third Option and find a harmonious intermediate path that can save both the past and future. Likewise, among the various dualities that Keves and Agnus represent, one of them is gender roles, with Keves often being vaguely associated with more "masculine" attributes while Agnus is associated with more "feminine" ones. Ontos/A, whose gender identity is stated to be a mixture of both, provides the bridge that allows the two to unify as one in the end.
• Nikol is all but stated to be the incarnation of Shulk and Fiora's son. Both Shulk and Fiora have one strand of Idiot Hair each, while Nikol has two, adding to the resemblance.
• Linka Skeets are minor enemies from 2 that Pandoria needed several of defeated in order to unlock the second level of her Electric Mastery, and evidently provided inspiration for her probable daughter's name.
• N was caught in the Pneuma blast that Ghondor unleashed to split A apart from Alpha. It's possible that this contributed to releasing Noah back into the system, and it would be fitting that the part of him that was once a loving father, and could be reached by the love of his son, is the part that is finally able to redeem him a thousand years later in the future.
• Lucky Seven is said to contain the souls and data of those dearly important, as told by Riku. His Masterpon was Melia, and it's revealed that Riku's father was a traveling companion for Melia, who would be either Riki or Kino. Barring Shulk (who was brought into Aionios to deal with Alpha) and Melia herself (who became the Queen of Keves), those important souls are very likely the main cast of the first game: Reyn, Fiora, Sharla, Dunban, Riki, Kino, and Nene— seven souls.
• In Future Redeemed, nearly everyone has non-human traits, including the ones who are explicitly natural births. The Liberators and the Second City are very obviously the result of both sides working together, a symbol of unity and representative of the game's theme of community. But by the time of the main game, no one in the City has any unusual traits; no High Entia wings, no Blade core crystals. After centuries of being insular and not taking in new blood, everything has flattened out, leaving them looking nothing like either side. This fits into the theme that the reason the City failed to make any reasonable inroads against Moebius in a thousand years is because they weren't able to unite the factions.
• With Future Redeemed heavily implying that Lucky Seven carries the souls of the first game's party, has its sheathe reforged from Matthew's gauntlets with Pneuma inside them, and that the Sword of the End is powered by Logos' core, it puts the final battle against Z into a brand new perspective; from the moment that Noah accepts N as being a part of himself, it means that Fiora, Dunban, Reyn, Sharla, Riki, Kino, Nene, Pyra, Mythra, and Malos are all being wielded by Noah against Z during the final battle against the latter. Not to mention that with Shulk, Rex, and A acting at the Trinity Processor in Origin; the City being made up of Shulk and Fiora's, Rex and Pyra's, Reyn and Sharla's, and Zeke and Pandoria's descendants; Melia and Nia being present in-person during the final battle; Sena possibly being the child of Brighid, whose driver was Morag; and Tora's artificial blade Poppi being present in the Cloudkeep's supercomputer, it means that in one way or another, every party member from the first two games had a hand (either directly or indirectly) in bringing down Z once and for all.
• Shulk's Monado Arts (namely Rage, Armour, and Purge) are his Ouroboros Power arts, and thus Agnian. Like Agnian arts, the Monado Arts in the first game are accessed by filling Shulk's Talent Gauge through auto-attacking.
• Why do the predecessors of Consuls Q, R, and W from the base game resemble E, H, and B respectively? It's likely connected to Z's insistence on maintaining the "Endless Now" by making a set amount of Moebius each with a unique appearance, but that's it. Whenever one of the Moebius dies, Z will just wait until a suitable replacement is found and give them a Moebius form that fits them best. The only exceptions to this are N and M, and that's because of the unique circumstances caused by Alpha.
• While some wondered why the color for Agnian Blades was bright yellow to match Mythra's weapon as opposed to the emerald-green of the Aegis's Core Crystal, it makes more sense in light of Pneuma representing the collective will for the two worlds coming together. What better to describe such than the blending of Kevesi blue and Agnian yellow to create the green of Pneuma's core?
• Between the base game and Future Redeemed, there are a whopping four duos of major characters who have names beginning with N and M and who have major close ties to each other as allies or enemies: Melia and Nia, Noah and Mio, N and M, and Matthew and Na'el.
• The explanation about the genders of the Trinity Cores explains a lot about their appearances. It's not just that Pneuma is female and Logos male, they are meant to explicitly and obviously represent those genders. That's why Pneuma has large breasts (secondary female characteristic) and Logos has large pectoral muscles (secondary male characteristic). Ontos, meanwhile, has neither in any of their forms, because they're supposed to sit in the middle.
• Alpha's endgame plot actually being a Noah's Story Arc works as a neat way to contrast him with the more appropriately named Noah from the main story. Both characters eventually reach the conclusion that Aionios is thoroughly FUBAR and needs to be destroyed. The difference is that Alpha sees the people of Aionios as inherently flawed, violent, and stuck in the past, seeking to only preserve the new generations born in the City, who he deems innocent. Noah, on the other hand, comes to believe that Aionios's very nature is to blame for everyone's misery, and Ouroboros, even after learning about the true identity of Z, point out that the whole setup explicitly prevents the humans trapped in Aionios from even attempting to fix anything even if they wanted to — something that Alpha conveniently ignores. For bonus points, both Noah and Alpha are a case of Literal Split Personality, but in different ways. Noah represents the hopes of his original self, while N is a shell of his former self powered by misery and regret; Alpha has very little left of Ontos's benevolent "Alvis" persona despite bearing the same appearance, with A being the actual inheritor of those qualities (and implied to be Ontos's "true self").
• The idea that the Trinity Processor needs three cores to run it, with Ontos being the one to balance the other two while lacking a traditional gender identity, matches the ideas Carl Jung discussed: the anima and animus. The anima is supposed to represent the feminine aspect of one's self, and the animus the masculine aspects of self, and a major part of Carl Jung's ideas was the need to balance, and avoid one's "shadow" becoming corrupted/unbalanced and risking being consumed by it. Ontos therefore is supposed to be the middle point between the two by preventing the anima (Pneuma) and animus (Logos) from losing themselves, so once he lost the two, he had no sense of balance and became the "Alvis" we know in this game. Given how Carl Jung's beliefs were a huge part of Xenogears, this ties it back in with the roots of the Xeno series as well.
• A's conversation with Shulk about their origins as Alvis' positive emotions, memories, and conscious given a new form after the Pneuma core divided them not only provides the final piece of the puzzle regarding the mechanism and nature behind playable Noah and Mio's incarnations in the base game of 3, but the pointed way A brings up Klaus' own history and role in it also seems to suggest that Shulk too may be a similar type of existence, resolving one of the biggest open questions of 1's lore. His unusual resemblance and compatibility with Zanza was never explained to be anything other than a quirk of fate, but while it could be the result of unconscious eugenics on Zanza's part to parallel his inspiration Deus's actions in Xenogears, what A proposes here suggests the possibility that Shulk himself is the embodiment of Klaus's hopes in a new body (complete with borderline-Significant Anagram name), similar to Noah/N, A/Alvis, Pyra/Mythra, and continuing off his existing Fei parallels, the relationship between Fei and Lacan/Grahf.
• The reveal that Ontos/the Monado provided the key architecture for Origin suggests that its appearance as a large sphere with a much smaller circle/dot inside it as the opening is a reference to the traditional symbolic depiction of the Monad as a dot within a circle.
• Shulk naming his child Nikol takes on some Fridge Heartwarming when you realize that both Nikol and Klaus are variations on the name Nicholas. For all the problems Klaus may have caused, Shulk did pity what happened to him/Zanza at the end of 1 and respected his forebear enough to name his child after him, in effect "redeeming" his name. Likewise, Zanza's greatest fear was of being forgotten, and naming a child after him to carry on the good parts of his legacy is a much healthier way to preserve one's memory.
• Rex is able to clearly explain A's identity because this isn't the first non-binary person he's travelled with. Roc, one of Rex's story Blades, doesn't identify as male despite going by masculine pronouns.
• The reveal that Matthew's gauntlets have Pneuma's core, and Noah's sword has Logos' core, puts all three games into yet another thematic parallel.
  • In the first game, Shulk used the power of Ontos, the creator, to create a new universe to expand the fading pocket universe that he was trapped in. The Bionis and Mechonis lived on an endless ocean without even a real sun, but he turned it into a full-sized universe.
  • In the second game, Rex used the power of Pneuma, the preserver, to ensure the continued survival of his world. This specifically countered Malos and Amalthus, who were destroying the future by disrupting the cycle of Titans and Blades.
  • In the third game, Noah uses the power of Logos, the destroyer, to destroy the unnatural stasis that is Aionios. He also uses the power of Pneuma through Ouroboros to preserve all the people, freeing them from the Endless Now. Likewise, in Future Redeemed Matthew uses the power of Pneuma to preserve Aionios, because they can't safely destroy it yet.
• Shulk's undertanding attitude towards Nikol, who is unable to summon a Blade and heavily coded as some form of autistic, likely comes not just from his own ability to relate as as a characters many players regard as autistic himself (and who continues to exhibit many of said traits in this game). But more importantly, in line with the game's themes of taking the good from the past and propagating it for the future, and in line with what Shulk states about his large Family of Choice on Bionis teaching him how to parent, it's also likely something he learned from the way Riki raised the disabled Kino in Future Connected. Furthermore, the way Riki and Shulk treat their disabled children has extra significance for Japanese audiences, since congenitally disabled and/or neurodivergent people have historically been regarded with shame and ostracization by their families instead of accommodation.
• Compared to all the other characters capable of destroying Flame Clocks by slicing them straight through the middle, Shulk is the only one whose attacks land at an off-angle. It's likely that his aim is thrown somewhat off as a result of his missing arm. or that he is consciously holding back as a result of his Character Development and now-merciful nature.
• Shulk's melancholy and depressive attitude in this game isn't just a result of old age or the hardships he experienced as a revolutionary leader in Aionios but is perfectly in-line with his characterization from the first game. Notably, every character has an unlockable fourth Skill Tree named after a significant personal flaw of theirs, and in Shulk's case his is labeled "Pessimism". While the war on Moebius might have exacerbated it, it's clear that this is not a new development but an existing personality trait he's always had since the beginning.

Fridge Horror

• Canon Welding:
  • The Vector Corp radio and the presence of one Dmitri Yuriev confirm that Klaus originally came from the Xenosaga universe. Given the absolute state of the Xenosaga universe, Klaus' experiment now comes off as a last resort to make anything slightly better, even if the chances of that happening are slim to none.
  • It also reframes Xenoblade Chronicles X and even the original Xenogears in a similar light. The horrific war that ravaged Earth caused parts of humanity to leave to find new hope elsewhere, and the hell of their own creations would haunt them so hard that alien contact was the least of their worries. Things were so bad that Klaus would rather hit the Reset Button on the universe, accidentally splitting Earth and the surrounding space into multiple dimensions with their own cycles of warfare and hatred, effectively producing a microcosm of what started it all to begin with. It's only after countless sacrifices and so many heroes putting everything on the line, including their own lives, that it can all merge back into what it used to be — where KOS-MOS is bound to return as the Lost Jerusalem, and lord knows who else after her, given that Xenosaga concluded with trying to prevent the end of the universe itself.

Fridge Sadness

• When Matthew leaves at the end of the game to look for more survivors, there's a sad undertone due to the fact that if his Founder statue in the main game is any indication, this was most likely the last time he saw the other Founders again, as his descendants would only return to the new City centuries later.

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