Characters / Xenoblade Chronicles: Protagonists

Due to the nature of this game and its characters, all spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles 1 including Future Connected and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on this page are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Xenoblade Chronicles 1 | Main Index
Protagonists

The leading cast and playable party of Xenoblade Chronicles 1.

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Protagonists

Shulk

Shulk

Age: 18; Height: 171 cm

^{Click here to see Shulk's appearance in Future Connected}

"The Monado...I hope I can figure out the secret of its power one day."

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

Shulk (シュルク) is the main protagonist of Xenoblade. He likes to think things through and is very methodical in his approach to most situations. Early details show that he is able to wield the Monado due to the fact that he was one of the few known survivors on a previous expedition to retrieve the sacred weapon. He first acquires the sword when his home, Colony 9, is attacked. His first act upon acquiring the "destined weapon" is to fight for an end to the war with the Mechonis and avenge Fiora.

For Shulk as a Blade, see here. For his status during the events of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, see here.

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• 11th-Hour Superpower:
  • The Monado III is acquired right before the final phase of the final battle in the main game, and is his ultimate weapon.
  • In Future Connected, right before the final battle he, with the help of Teelan and Radzam, upgrades the Monado Replica EX to be able to create a Hilbert Effect like field to make the Fog King tangible as the Monado Replica EX+.
• Achilles' Heel: Aggro, gameplay-wise. Because of his frailty and many of his attacks requiring him to attack enemies from the back or the sides, his effectiveness in battle is reduced drastically if the enemies aggro on him. Which is why his 4th and 5th optional skill trees unlock skills that lower his aggro, such as "Forced Mercy". It lowers Shulk's aggro whenever he takes damage, thereby forcing the enemy to target someone else.
• Artificial Stupidity: The AI doesn't handle his positional abilities at all, and spams Battle Soul, continously draining his health.
• Attractive Zombie: All in all, he looks pretty good for what is, in a sense, a walking corpse.
• Back from the Dead: Twice, in fact. First, when he died in the Monado expedition when he was a child, and Zanza brought him back to life to use as a vessel. The second time, when Dickson shoots him and Zanza abandons his body. This second time, he comes back with Meyneth's intervention.
• Back Stab: His aptly-named Back Slash art, which does massive damage from behind the target.
• Badass Boast: Several, but this one stands out:
  Shulk: Dickson! If you're so determined to stop us... then we will kill you.
• Badass Bookworm: He starts the story as an engineer student, but turns out he can fight like a real pro.
• Berserk Button: Inverted. Shulk's case is a rare example of a Berserk Button getting unstuck as a plot point. Not long after it's revealed that Fiora isn't dead after all, he goes back to being an All-Loving Hero, to the point of offering mercy to Fiora's almost-killer while Dunban is about to finish him off. To be clear, he still wants revenge on Mumkhar for what he did to Fiora and the Emperor, but not so much as to be blinded by it.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Usually he's the nicest guy around, but he will fight tooth and nail to protect the people he cares about. Exaggerated if that person is Fiora.
• Big Damn Heroes: Doubles with He's Back!. He returns from his Heroic RRoD just in time to slay one of the Telethia attacking Colony 6.
• Big "NO!": Gets one just before Fiora is killed. He screams another shortly after, after he stabs Metal Face in his... face and he leaves Colony 9.
• Boring, but Practical: Monado arts notwithstanding, he never gains any arts other than his initial 8. They're arguably some of the best arts in the game.
• Brought Down to Badass: Having lost his future visions and god powers, in Future Connected he's just a teenager with a homemade laser sword. It doesn't stop him from fighting his way into Alcamoth while it's swarming with monsters.
• Broken Ace: He doesn't take the news that everything he did was a lie too well.
• Chick Magnet: Both Fiora and Melia have feelings for him. He's also rather popular with the girls in Colony 9.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Fiora. Victorious Childhood Friend example; everybody who knows Shulk and Fiora can tell they love each other and have for a long time, and he marries Fiora sometime between the events of Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed.
• The Chosen One: Zigzagged. At first it seems as though only Shulk can use the Monado effectively, though it turns out it's only because he was the one Zanza chose to possess, and that it *could* have been anyone else had Zanza willed it, they would have sufficed so long as they could swing a sword. Ultimately played straight at the end though, because Zanza reveals that he was lying about what he said at Mechonis Core, and the REAL reason he chose Shulk was because he saw that Shulk was meant to become his new vessel in a vision from before his soul was confined to Ose Tower, and THAT was the real reason he remained inside the Monado until Shulk appeared.
• Combat Clairvoyance: The Monado gives him the ability to see the future, especially during combat.
• Combat Pragmatist: Has special moves revolving around Back Stabbing enemies, blindsiding the enemy's flank, and kicking them while they're down. Most characters have moves like this, but Shulk's are especially prominent since he never gets more than 8 normal Arts and thus always has them available.
• Conveniently an Orphan: His parents died when he was a kid. Although he still has mentor figures in Dickson and Dunban.
• Dead All Along: He died as a young child, back on Valak Mountain where the Monado was found, when Dickson found him with the other dead Homs. For most of the game, the only thing keeping Shulk alive is that he's a Soul Jar for Zanza.
• Deuteragonist: While he’s still a main character, Melia takes his role of the main protagonist in Future Connected.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Shulk's deliberate refusal to kill the Faced Mechon once he realizes that they're Homs stems not only from his messianic nature, but also because every war in his world has been fought between Homs and emotionless Mechon drones. Of course he's going to find the idea of killing a sapient being horrifying. He becomes extremely conflicted about his revenge when he learns the true history of the Machina and Egil while discovering that they are not mindless deathbots.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He manages to kill Zanza, the god of Bionis (well, slashes him, actually).
• The Engineer:
  • It generally only comes up in the start of the game, where he's looking for metal to make weapons and machines as well as researching the Monado. It also comes up mostly in sidequests, a number of which involve various people asking him to fix or build things for them. He's also fascinated with Nopon and High Entia engineering, and will occasionally make small talk about it. In the main story, though, it sort of gets dropped in favor of him discovering the power of the Monado firsthand.
  • This aspect of Shulk is played up in Future Connected, as his scientific and engineering skills are his main impact on the plot while the journey itself focuses more on Melia, Kino, and Nene. In item descriptions, it shows that on top of making the Monado Replica EX and helping design its upgraded anti-Fog King field, he's even delved into designing new types of fabric with his REX gear. There's also multiple nods scattered throughout FC that Shulk's newfound access to the assistance of Machina science teams and their knowledge has caused the technology level of the world to skyrocket in the year since Zanza's defeat.
• Expy: In Future Connected, he becomes one to Addam Origo. While seen as The Hero in-universe and the most accomplished member of the party, game-wise he takes a backseat to the main protagonist (Melia/Lora), who gets A Day in the Limelight. Like with Addam, Shulk's weapon plays a pivotal role in defeating the Big Bad, and with the ether flares streaming out of it, it even resembles Pyra or Mythra's Aegis sword when upgraded.
• Everyone Can See It: The attraction between Shulk and Fiora is well known to the people of Colony 9, to where several NPCs make note of it. Desiree pretends to hit on Shulk, then says she's kidding since she already knows he's "taken". Fiora's brother, Dunban, has been aware of it since they were children and has long since given Shulk his approval to court her. So has Reyn.
• Foil: To Egil. Both are engineers who are known to be talented and compassionate to their respective people. After the destruction of their hometown, they both swear bloody revenge on the opposite Titan. However, while Shulk retains his compassion, Egil outright kills any Machina who tries to stop him. Shulk allies with Zanza, not knowing that he himself is Zanza's vessel; Egil claims to be Meyneth's agent, not knowing that Meyneth opposes his quest for revenge. Shulk is betrayed and killed by Zanza's disciple; Egil believes that his own god and people have betrayed him. Finally, Egil makes peace with Meyneth shortly before both of their demises, while Shulk ends up destroying Zanza for good.
• Glass Cannon: He can buff the party's damage output with Slit Edge (only for physical parties) and Monado Enchant (only against the Mechon), and many of his Arts deal obscene damage under the right circumstances. His Agility is above average (he is the median of the party in this regard), just enough to connects hits with physical attacks against higher level enemies. However, his health is rather lacking.
• A God I Am Not: Late in the game, he starts displaying mysterious powers, such as continuing to see visions of the future without the need for Zanza's Monado, culminating in the True Monado appearing in his hand and enabling him to defeat Zanza. After defeating Zanza, Alvis informs him that he now has the power of creation, and what becomes of the universe is up to him. However, he is very uncomfortable with the idea of being a god. He does create a new world so that the inhabitants of the destroyed Mechonis and dying Bionis still have a place to live, but then, fulfilling Meyneth's wish for a world without gods, relinquishes his power, presumably living out the rest of his life as a mortal.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Both he and Fiora can be temporarily added to your party in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, during the expansion pass' Challenge Mode. If you complete the challenge, they become permanent additions to your roster.
• Happily Adopted:
  • Although his parents died when he was 4, he fits so well in Colony 9 and his Parental Substitute figures did such a good job with him that he's completely moved on.
  • The heart-to-heart 'Those Waiting for You' involes Riki asking Shulk if he wants to be the former's Littlepon. Shulk thanks Riki for suggesting that because no-one asked him to be part of anyone else's family.
• Healing Hands: His Light Heal art can recover a portion of a party member's health bar.
• Heartbroken Badass: After losing Fiora, but gets better as her sanity is restored.
• The Hero: With shades of The Smart Guy.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: And pretty huge ones. A plot justification in him using the Monado. Amusingly, it seems Shulk hasn't ruled out using other weapons just yet. Some of his after-battle dialogue consists of asking Sharla and Melia if they could teach him how to use a rifle/ether magic, respectively. In both cases, Dunban scolds him for being willing to give up the sword so easily.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • He falls into a huge one after Metal Face kills Fiora, which leads to him seeking revenge against the Mechon.
  • After discovering that Dickson, one of his Parental Substitutes, was Evil All Along... and that he himself has been Dead All Along for 14 years! He's almost ready to give it all up right there and then, convinced that his own existence has, beyond being Zanza's puppet, been utterly pointless; Alvis talks him out of it.
• Heroic Spirit: Nothing stops Shulk in his quest. Not even death... TWICE.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Reyn, by virtue of being Childhood Friends.
• Identical Stranger: Is one to Zanza. Though they're not biologically related, they share the same voice and appearance, and during the flashback Alvis shows Shulk, Klaus as a human also looks exactly like an older version of Shulk.
• I'll Kill You!: Says this word-to-word to Metal Face after it kills Fiora.
• The Lancer: He's placed in this role to Melia in Future Connected, due to the majority of the story being focused on her ascension to Empress and the rest on Kino and Nene's Coming of Age Story.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Fiora's apparent death haunts him during the first part of the story.
• Instant Expert: The second he grabs the Monado ready for combat, he already wields it better than anyone before. There's a reason he wields it so well...
• Intimate Healing: With Fiora, when trying to give her water via mouth-to-mouth.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: It turns out that he was chosen by Zanza... because he happened to be near to the Monado and he needed a vessel. Not to mention the fact that the being who chose him was a colossal jackass.
• Light 'em Up: Most of the Monado attacks are energy or light-based.
• Magic Feather: The Monado turns out to be something like this. While its Mechon-killing powers are very real, Shulk's power to see the future turns out to be all his own, as he discovers in the late-game when he loses the Monado to Zanza.
• Nice Guy: A good student, loyal friend, and treats everyone with respect.
• No Sympathy: In an early cutscene, after Reyn accidentally slashes Fiora with the Monado, Shulk cares more about a random broken machine than his friend, since he knows she wasn't hurt. She calls him out on his carelessness, and he apologizes right after.
• Official Couple: Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed explicitly reveals that he did marry Fiora and have a son with her, Nikol.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Whenever Shulk swears revenge on someone, or demonstrates a willingness to kill his enemies, you know that something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.
• Our Zombies Are Different: He died along with the rest of his family back when he discovered the Monado. He's basically a walking corpse reanimated by Zanza.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Still remains close enough to Melia to the point where he willingly accompanies her through Future Connected in order to help her prepare for her new duties as Empress. A brief quiet moment has Shulk tell her that he plans to stay by her side as they both do what they can to guide the future they fought for, which Melia wholeheartedly accepts.
• Physical God: Zanza unwittingly made Shulk a god since he used him as a vessel and gained the power of the Monado, but Shulk doesn't want to be one and honors Meyneth's wish of creating a world with no need for gods.
• Right Man in the Wrong Place: His role as the linchpin of Zanza's cosmic plan boils down to him being conveniently on hand when Zanza needed a Soul Jar and being physically capable of wielding a sword.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Against the Mechon for attacking Colony 9 and killing Fiora. It's lampshaded by everyone to be an Out of Character moment, as he's usually an All-Loving Hero to a T. He eventually realises that they're right and he doesn't have the stomach for it.
• Save the Villain: When he receives a vision of Metal Face causing his own death, he shouts at him not to move. This warning is ignored.
• Say My Name: He really goes crazy with this trope, and even does this more times in the Japanese dub! Especially when Fiora is with Shulk at the beginning of the Fallen Arm arc, he does this repeatedly, in succession.
• Screw Destiny: Both in story and the gameplay. He always fight to change the future he sees in his visions.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the sensitive guy to Dunban and Reyn's Manly Men.
• Shorter Means Smarter: He's one of the shortest male characters in the party. He's also an engineering student back in Colony 9.
• Single-Target Sexuality: He doesn't show any sort of attraction towards any other character but Fiora, despite his Chick Magnet status.
• Situational Sword: The Monado is effective against Mechon and only Mechon. Against sapient biological beings, it does little more than Scratch Damage, which becomes a problem during the Bionite Order arc. The Monado eventually gets an upgrade that removes this drawback.
• Skeptic No Longer: After it becomes clear to him that the battle between the Bionis and the Mechonis isn't just a myth and that the repercussions of that fight are what led to the current crisis, he realizes that he can't ignore what he isn't aware of and becomes more of an Agent Mulder.
• The Smart Guy: In Future Connected, his primary contribution to the story is to pilot the Junks and invent the doohickey needed to make the Fog King tangible and killable.
• Soul Jar: To Zanza, who brought him Back from the Dead when he was a child to serve this purpose.
• Support Party Member: Surprisingly, Shulk is probably a better support character than Sharla. While Light Heal is underwhelming at first, most of the time it is all the healing he needs. He can nerf the enemy's offense and defense with Air Slash and Slit Edge respectively. he can extend Topple time with Shaker Edge and Monado Cyclone. His Monado Purge and Monado Enchant are very useful against Telethia and Mechon respectively. His Monado Armor, if fully leveled up, reduces the damage inflicted on your party by a whopping 75%.
• Sympathy for the Devil: He feels sympathetic towards every major antagonist he meets, or at least wishes he could have found a peaceful solution. It doesn't matter if they're a Well-Intentioned Extremist or not, he will deliberately and knowingly invoke this attitude towards them all. The only exception to this rule is Zanza, as he even tries to let Metal Face live when they're at Sword Valley.
• Take Up My Sword: Downplayed, in that the person who he's taking it from (Dunban) is still alive, but can't wield the Monado any more without risking his health.
• Undead Child: He died and was reanimated at the age of four.
• Unstoppable Rage: When he meets Metal Face for the second time, Shulk basically does a complete 180 on his personality.
• The Voice: He can be heard just about to fight Zanza in 2, but is never mentioned or seen in the main story. This could be subverted if the Challenge Battles are considered canon, however (as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate seems to do).
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: One of his Heart-to-Hearts with Reyn reveals that Shulk is afraid of caterpillars due to Reyn putting one in his drawer. This never interferes with the gameplay, though.
• Worthy Opponent: Is eventually regarded as one by Xord and Egil. Dickson also comes to respect his strength, even if he doesn't show it.

Fiora (Fiorung)

Fiora

Age: 18; Height: 160 cm

^{Click here to see Mechon Fiora}

"I'm coming along as well. I'd feel better going with you boys than sitting at home worrying about you."

Voiced by: Carina Reeves (English), Eri Nakao (Japanese)

Fiora (フィオルン, Fiorung) is Shulk's childhood friend and not-so-secret crush, and Dunban's younger sister. She often cooks for Shulk, who always says it's "good" no matter what she gives him. It's lead her to believe he either has no sense of taste, or that he isn't mindful of what he's eating. For Fiora as a Blade, see here.

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• And I Must Scream: She says that during the time she was controlled by Meyneth, she was fully aware of everything that was happening. Downplayed in that she found it less horrifying once she realized Meyneth was not evil.
• Back from the Dead: Although turned into a Mechon. She is revived to serve as Meyneth's vessel.
• Badass Adorable: Sweet, kind, cute, and capable of wiping the floor with her enemies' asses.
• Beam Spam: If you decide to use them consistently. They're all-around efficient, effective, and powerful.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Of the three Homs shown with mechanized bodies, Fiora seems to have been subjected to the least amount of Body Horror. Mumkhar's metal body looks like it could be hollow, and Gadolt even loses one of his eyes for a robot eye, but Fiora only gets a haircut. Some of her alternate equips reveal that she still has plenty of skin under her metal, though this was changed in Definitive Edition to give her doll-like joints and skin. Justified as it's heavily implied that Vanea was the one directing Fiora's reconstruction unlike the two others.
• Become a Real Boy: Thanks to the efforts of a Machina doctor and High Entia technology in the form of the Regeneration Chamber (using genetic information from the Homs part of her cyborg body to regrow the rest), Fiora gets her fully organic body back for the epilogue.
• Betty and Veronica: Starts off as the Betty to Melia, as Shulk's childhood friend and Girl Next Door. After she rejoins the party, her part-machine nature and fiery personality make her the Veronica.
• Beware the Nice Ones: After seeing her taking care of her brother and preparing lunch for Shulk, you wouldn't expect to see her driving a freaking tank and shooting its main cannon in a Mechon's face at point-blank range! And that's before her transformation.
• Boyish Short Hair: As a Mechon in contrast to her Homs form (though she decides to keep it short when her old body is regenerated).
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Her personality (or rather Meyneth's, as Fiora never had control during this time) was overriden by Egil's enforced loyalty for a short time. Fiora's The Power of Love for Shulk allows Meyneth to access the inner strength to regain control.
• Came Back Strong: She wasn't harmless before her death, but when she comes back, she literally shares her body with a goddess and is able to tap into her powers, even after said goddess dies.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Shulk. Victorious Childhood Friend example; everybody who knows Shulk and Fiora could tell they love each other and have for a long time, and she marries Shulk sometime between the events of Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed.
• Childhood Marriage Promise: An early heart-to-heart implies that she made one with Shulk after having an argument with Dunban. If you choose to bring it up, though, Fiora will get mad at Shulk, stating that she was too young to know what marriage meant at the time (but secretly finding it sweet that he remembered).
• The Chosen One: Subverted. Vanea chose her as Meyneth's vessel but it's more because of her relation with Shulk than any merit of her own.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: She gets angry at Shulk during the credits of Future Connected for running off on a dangerous adventure with Melia without bringing her. Shulk is unsure how to react while Reyn tries to calm her down.
• Critical Hit Class: Her Critical Combo skill turns all of her double attacks into critical hits, and her Speed Shift aura increases her Double Attack rate and the speed of her auto-attack, turning her into a killing machine that deals Death of a Thousand Cuts.
• Deuteragonist: She's Shulk's Victorious Childhood Friend, she's technically playable since the beginning (granted, as a Homs, but still), she's the vessel for Meyneth (contrasting Shulk being Zanza's vessel), they both have Evil Counterparts (Zanza for Shulk, Mumkhar for Fiora), she's the main (well, only) Mechon protagonist opposing Shulk being the main Homs protagonist, and nearly the entirety of the final cutscene is shown from her point of view (to hide the fact that her Homs body regenerated offscreen).
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: Her strategy in battle amounts to stacking haste buffs while getting as many auto-attacks as possible with her low damage weapons.
• Did You Get A New Hair Cut: Shulk awkwardly tries to invoke this on her during the epilogue. It's pretty clear he does notice that she has her Homs body back, but he pretends not to in order to get out of showing a preference for either one.
• Disposable Woman: A subversion. She dies shortly after her introduction, and her death is both the cause of Shulk's initial quest and a source of angst for him. Then she's revealed to have survived her apparent death, and goes on to take a prominent role in the story.
• Dub Name Change: She's called "Fiorung" in the original Japanese ("フィオルン" written in katakana).
• Dual Wielding: Both as a Homs, using a pair of knives, and as a Mechon, this time with a pair of swords.
• Emergency Transformation:
  • Vanea keeps Fiora from dying this way, turning her into a cyborg whose body is integrated with a Faced Mechon she rides in. Her alterations seem less severe than other Faces, perhaps because Vanea was involved and was unwilling to butcher a Homs the way Egil would.
  • Happens again in the ending, though less urgent than the first. Losing Meyneth's Monado means that Fiora's Mechon form will eventually run out of energy and die. So after Zanza is defeated, she spends half a year in a High Entia Regeneration Chamber to restore her original Homs body.
• Elemental Powers: After becoming a Mechon, Fiora gains several elemental abilities:
  • Mag Storm
  • Zero Gravity
  • Final Cross
• 11th-Hour Ranger: With traits of the Sixth Ranger in personality as, after becoming part-Mechon, she's noticeably a lot more serious and battle-ready. Despite this, she never loses her kind nature.
• Energy Weapon: She gains the ability to use them as a Talent Art depending on which Drones you equip her with.
• Everybody Already Knew: She's genuinely surprised when anyone tells her that they know about her and Shulk, because she honestly thinks it's a secret. But as Sharla and others have told her, they'd have to be blind to not see it.
• Expy: She's overtly based off of KOS-MOS, being a Robot Girl with a close bond to the engineer protagonist, who pilots a silver-white mech, and who undergoes a significant Eye Colour Change to indicate that the spirit of an ancient and extremely powerful woman is controlling her body. She even gets paired up with KOS-MOS in Project × Zone as a nod to her inspiration, and her Soloist Cowl costume in Definitive Edition, itself an unused recycled concept for another character in 3 who looks even more like KOS-MOS, is a variation on one of KOS-MOS's designs in Episode III.
• First-Episode Twist: Her temporary death and "revival", to the point that she's constantly referred to as "Seven" or "7th" outside of spoilers.
• First Girl Wins: Fiora has known Shulk longer than either Sharla or Melia have, given that she and Shulk grew up together and she had the advantage of being his crush.
• First Kiss: Happens when Shulk finds her unconscious on the beach of the Fallen Arm. Since Fiora was too weak to drink anything, he uses mouth-to-mouth to give her water.
  Fiora: (smiles faintly) "I can't believe it... My first kiss."
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Final Cross is an attack used by releasing Meyneth's power. After her death, there's nothing preventing you from using the attack despite the fact that it is now literally Cast from Lifespan.
• Girl Next Door: In the literal sense, given she's from the same hometown as Shulk, whom she's known since childhood. And, fittingly, she has the appearance and mannerism of a small-town girl.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Along with Shulk in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 by purchasing the expansion pass and completing its Challenge Mode.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Fiora is compassionate to a fault, even at her own expense. When Sharla and Linada find out that her mechon body is unstable, she asks both of them to keep it a secret from the others so they won't pity her; Shulk most of all. Instead, she resolves to make the most of whatever time she has left by helping him defeat Zanza.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: In one of their Heart to Hearts, it's implied that she and Melia have become this.
• Hidden Depths: From the very beginning, she's a proficient knife user. And then there's her Mechon body, in which she's capable of giving KOS-MOS a run for her money. A sidequest even mentions that Fiora was once considered for the Colony 9 Defense Force (much like Reyn and Dunban).
• Hollywood Cyborg: Her Mechon body, which seems to have varying degrees of still-human parts depending on what armor is equipped. Compared to the other converted Face pilots shown on-screen, she doesn't appear as heavily mutilated. The extra detail on her model in the Definitive Edition shows that her skin seems to be a series of grafted panels, implying it's just for aesthetics and she's heavily mechanized (though how much is unclear, beyond it being explicitly stated several of her internal organs were removed and certain outfits implying her limbs are fully mechanical).
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Mumkhar stabbed her with Metal Face's claws. The results are not seen thanks to a Gory Discretion Shot. If it wasn't for Meyneth, she'd be dead.
• Intimate Healing: With Shulk, when he tries to give her water via mouth-to-mouth. She even lampshades it.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Her first appearance in a crossover game, Project × Zone 2 has her as her Mechon self, joining alongside her predecessor KOS-MOS.
• Lightning Bruiser: As Mechon Fiora. She rivals with Riki for the second highest Agility (her maximum Agility loses to Riki's by 1 point), her HP is above average and her Physical Defense is fantastic. As mentioned in Critical Hit Class, she can inflict massive damage and constantly heal herself at the same time.
• Limit Break: Given that it requires her to be in very high Tension, Final Cross is about the closest the game has to a traditional version.
• Littlest Cancer Patient: For exactly one storyline sidequest, you are required to help her find a part on the Fallen Hand that allows her to perform fully. She's also bedridden, says she's fine and doesn't want anyone else to worry, and Sharla even leaves the party to watch over her. You may end up finishing it almost immediately after it is given.
• The Load: Fears that she'll end up like this. In certain heart-to-hearts, she implies she's actually scared of the situations she goes through, but tends to put on a brave face. She even admits in her heart-to-heart with Dunban, Recovery and Reflection, that she learnt from the Colony 9 attack, and won't end up as reckless as before.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Post-Mechonization, she comes equipped with two detachable Attack Drones that let her pull this.
• Magikarp Power: She's not bad when you first obtain her, however when she is able to get Speed Shift, Final Cross, and all of her skills from her extra skill branches, she can become the best character in the game bar Shulk and Melia.
• Male Gaze: At the ending of the game, the camera pans to her body zoomed in to show she's got her Homs body back. One of the camera shots is a lingering shot of her ass.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: Unlike the rest of the cast, most of Fiora's damage comes from her basic attacks. Using her fairly weak arts can actually LOWER her damage instead of helping. On top of this, she has plenty of different setups to fulfill multiple roles even moreso than Riki, though her full DPS build is by far her strongest later on. In addition, one of her auto attack animations hits twice, both of which can crit and proc weapons gems and double attack for even more hits, something that no other character has.
• Modesty Shorts: Fiora wears these under her original skirt. They come as a part of that section of armor.
• Ms. Fanservice: Fiora's armors tend to show off a lot of skin, even as a cyborg.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Her Speed-type Frames mostly have plunging necklines that leave most of her torso exposed.
• Official Couple: Confirmed to have married Shulk in Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed, with their son Nikol being one of the six Founders.
• Plucky Girl: She never loses her cheerful spirit, despite the amount of crap she has to go through.
• The Pollyanna: Her reaction to having a machine body forced on her and realising that she's slowly dying after Lady Meyneth is killed? "It'll be fine....I think."
• The Power of Love: Her fifth Skill Tree, Innocence, has skills exclusive to her that can't be linked, which greatly boosts her performance in battle if fighting alongside Shulk on the active team.
• Redemption Demotion: Face Nemesis was powerful enough to blindside Egil, and is implied to be on at least Metal Face's level; additionally, Mumkhar put up a hell of a fight on foot, proving it's not all the suit. When Fiora joins, she's only on par with the rest of the party, and even behind on AP and SP. Justified, as Face Nemesis got trashed falling from Galahad Fortress, the pilots aren't built to live without them for long periods of time even before said body took internal system damage in the fall, and the engineer who fixed said internal damage admits it's a patch job at best and Fiora's (almost literally) still not firing on all cylinders.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Shulk, Blue to Reyn. Both to Melia, who swap sides around over the course of the second half of the game.
• Reversible Roboticizing: Fiora manages to get her old body back in the epilogue before her Mechon body shuts down thanks to the Regeneration Chamber.
• Robotic Spouse: The possibility of Fiora becoming one is discussed by both her and Shulk in a few Heart-to-Heart's, but it's ultimately subverted due to the Machina regenerating her missing organic parts.
• Sacrificial Lion: She is apparently killed when the Mechon invade Colony 9. It's subverted, as it turned out she was saved by being given a robot body, and then her human form restored at the end.
• Senseless Sacrifice: She tries to use the mobile artillery to protect Shulk from Metal Face when it looks like the Monado isn't working against him. Too bad she doesn't fare any better, and gets skewered for her trouble. Downplayed in that she does manage to damage his face enough for Shulk to get a good stab in, which according to Xord freaked him out enough to make him retreat.
• Sexy Backless Outfit: Her Speed and Water Cowling equipment leave her back bare.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Downplayed example in Definitive Edition, where her eyes are green and her hair takes on a strong orange tinge to differentiate her more from Shulk.
• Single-Target Sexuality: She only has eyes for Shulk.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Shulk's kindness is what wins her over.
• Soul Jar:
  • The same way Shulk is Zanza's, Fiora becomes Lady Meyneth's.
  • Per the artbook Aionios Moments, her soul is locked within and powering Lucky Seven in Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
• Spam Attack: Her Talent Art. Her Sword Drones in her Mechon form also allow her to do one.
• Stepford Smiler: The girl goes through a huge amount of crap, but she never openly angsts about it.
• Stripperiffic: Fiora's Speed set is the most revealing of her armors and shows off quite a lot of her cleavage.
• Symbiotic Possession: While Meyneth is in control during her time as the pilot of Face Nemesis and Fiora is in control as soon as she joins back the party, it is shown in Agniratha and Mechonis Core that the two of them can coexist at the same time and take turns using Fiora's body.
• Unwilling Roboticisation: Though she takes it in stride later on, even discussing some of the advantages of being a machina-like, like not needing food. And considering death was the alternative, it's not hard to imagine she would have picked this option willingly if she was in any condition to be asked. The biggest advantage Fiora sees in having the machina-like body is that it allows her to stand with and fight alongside Shulk against any enemy, and boy can she ever. Fiora still prefers her Homs body, though, and she gets it back in the epilogue, courtesy of the Regeneration Chamber restoring whichever organic parts were removed.
• Walking Spoiler: It's pretty much impossible to say anything about the plot without spoiling her (temporary) death two hours into the story.
• Weapon Twirling: She just loves to spin her weapons in "cowgirl with her revolver" style whenever she takes them out or puts them away. The latter takes around 5 seconds after every single battle... but you gotta admit she looks pretty damn cool while she does it!.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Her cyborg body slowly begins to shut down after the loss of Meyneth. She's aware she's living on borrowed time, but doesn't give a damn beyond hoping she can last long enough to help Shulk win.

Reyn (Rein)

Reyn

Age: 18; Height: 190 cm

"OK, I got it. I'll make you a promise. Shulk won't even get a scratch."

Voiced by: Jay Taylor (English), Eiji Miyashita (Japanese)

Reyn (ライン, Rein), one of Shulk's childhood friends, he is the second character introduced into the game. Although he is a member of Colony 9's Defense Force, he can often be seen at Shulk and Fiora's side. Reyn is the stereotypical fun-loving joker of the group. He uses an oversized shield-gunlance, which can switch from shield mode into gun or lance mode.

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• Ambiguously Related: It's all but stated that he's the father of Panacea Reid, Shulk's disciple and one of the six Founders of Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed.
• Audience Surrogate: His lack of book learning allows him to ask questions the other Homs take for granted, letting the player know what is and isn't common knowledge in the process.
• Bash Brothers: With Shulk. They're best friends whose Arts complement each other's. Shulk sets them up, Reyn knocks them down.
• Best Friend: He's known Shulk all his life and is his closest companion. It's the reason he joins his pursuit of Metal Face, because he's sworn to always have his back, which is further lampshaded in two of their heart-to-hearts.
• BFG: The weapon is officially deemed a "gunlance", although the first part is rarely seen except in some of his Talent Arts. It's also noticeably bigger than the ones we see in the hands of Defense Force soldiers.
• BFS: Most of Reyn's attacks involve using the massive blade to stab or slash things.
• The Big Guy: Class 4. The largest member of the team, with health and weaponry to match.
• Boisterous Bruiser: He's very confident in his fighting abilities and very vocal about it. Check out his battle quotes.
• Book Dumb: He's frequently shown to be the slowest member of the team — outright saying he prefers to leave the thinking to Shulk.
• Butt-Monkey: He's the constant victim of lampooning from all of his companions in post-battle dialogue.
  Shulk: Reyn, you're such an easy target!
• Catchphrase: "NOW IT'S REYN TIME!"
• Character Development: He goes from a rather boisterous and irresponsible young man into a strong and compassionate warrior who defends his friends to the best of his ability.
• Combos: Dive Sobat gains an additional effect if it's used after Bone Upper.
• Conveniently an Orphan: While it's never brought up during the main story, Reyn's Heart to Hearts (primarily his final Heart to Heart with Riki) reveal his parents are dead with no explanation for what the cause was. Despite this, Reyn rarely lets this drag him down and is only saddened for a short time when bringing it up.
• Draw Aggro: His special ability is "Mad Taunt", which gets enemies to focus on him.
• Dumb Muscle: While he does have some Book Dumb tendencies as mentioned above, he's much more well-spoken and intelligent than one would assume at first glance, so this is mostly averted.
• Fiery Redhead: Hot-tempered, eager to fight, and red-haired to match.
• The Heart: Reyn is very good at keeping the other members of the party from getting carried away with their emotions.
• Heavy Equipment Class: Reyn can unlocks the heavy armor skill quickly compared to other party members, who require a lot more skill points to unlock heavy armour, though they can also copy the skill from Reyn if their affinity with him is high enough.
• Heroic Build: He's huge and muscular, to contrast with Shulk's general weediness.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Shulk. The two have been together since childhood and remain inseparable over the course of the story.
• Hidden Depths: Reyn may be rather slow academically, but he's also one of the most empathic and insightful people on the team.
• Hot-Blooded: The most extroverted and gung-ho member of the party.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: During the confrontation with Jade Face, Reyn tries getting through to him by reminding Gadolt of his feelings for Sharla. It works, though it prompts Gadolt to invoke the trope himself by sacrificing himself so Sharla can escape the Mechonis's Core.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Reyn starts the game off as kind of rude and brash. Yet even so, he never turns his back on any of his friends, and graduates to become the party's main motivator, along with extremely empathetic.
• The Lancer: Though his role on the team is closer to The Big Guy, he does have some traits of The Lancer. Most notably, he's Shulk's oldest and most loyal friend who can always be counted on to watch his back.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The weapon is frequently used as a shield due to its massive size.
• Lightning Bruiser: He is one of the two characters who easily possesses over 9900 HP without Gems. His Physical Defense is pretty beefy and he has Aura Burst and Dive Sobat to nerf enemy's offense. He has many strong Area of Effect attacks and his Sword Drive is the single most devastating physical attack in the game. However, his auto-attacks are on the slow side, and his stronger attacks take a while to charge, though getting glory gauntlets and Riki's cooldown skills remedy this. And despite having relatively low agility, it isn't low enough to keep him from going a full agility build using Dive Sobat to hit the evasion cap against most enemies. His high total HP and auras also let him keep aura heal gems active during the early and mid game, which means he doesn't need a lot of healing either. Additionally, a bug in Definitive Edition gives Shield Bash its level 12 cooldown at level 1, as well as level 12 arts completely negating his cooldowns in the endgame.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: It forms part of his Character Development. He used to protect the weedy Shulk when they were young, but later in the game he realises that Shulk has become strong enough to protect himself. He then decides that even if that's the case, he can still watch his friend's back.
• Practical Taunt: "Mad Taunt" is his Talent Art, which greatly boosts Reyn's aggro for a limited amount of time, thereby diverting attention away from other party members, keeping them safe from harm. And since he has multiple Arts that increase aggro and refill his talent meter, he's usually able to reuse Mad Taunt just as its effect has begun to wear off.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's a Red Oni to Shulk's Blue through and through, although this is later reversed as he begins to mature and become more level-headed.
• Replacement Goldfish: Nearly mocked. Not long after they've met, when Sharla starts comparing him to her fiancé - before anyone knows whether he's truly alive or not, though Sharla believes the former - Reyn's response is "What am I, some kind of Gadolt substitute?". However, despite Sharla admitting their similarities, her relationship with Reyn isn't based around him being like Gadolt; simply Reyn being Reyn.
• Say My Name: He screams Otharon's name when he thinks he'll die like in his vision.
• Second Love: Initially, Sharla's drawn to him due to his similarities to Gadolt, but she gradually develops genuine feelings for Reyn for reasons all his own. The ending implies that they've either become an item, or that they're well on their way to becoming one.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Shulk, Sensitive Guy to Dunban; although that's more on account of Dunban being more mature than anything else.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He and Riki tend to tease each other since their first meeting. In fact, most of his and Riki's post-battle quotes involve Riki making fun of Reyn in some way.
• Ship Tease: With Sharla, and his final Heart-to-Heart with Riki stops just short of him stating his feelings.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • He and the rest of Colony 9 are aware that Shulk and Fiora are into each other, and are silently rooting for them to make it official.
  • He reluctantly adopts the same stance regarding Sharla, once it becomes clear to him that her heart is still set on Gadolt. But he entrusts Sharla's happiness to Reyn instead.
• Spell My Name With An S: His name is spelled "Rein" in Japan.
• Sweet and Sour Grapes: In the ending, after his I Want My Beloved to Be Happy moment mentioned above, it's implied that he actually does score with Sharla.
• The McCoy: Reyn definitely fulfills this role as he tends to rely on emotion and instinct above all else in addition to recklessly rushing into situations regardless of the outcome.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Energy Aubergines (better known as eggplants in the 'states) are his favourite gift. You even get an achievement for giving him one!
• Undying Loyalty: It doesn't matter how dangerous the going gets, Reyn will never ever leave his friends' sides. Especially not Shulk's.
• Unknown Rival: He seems to consider Gadolt his rival for Sharla's affections on a subconscious level, despite having never met him. He eventually grows out of it, though.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Although it never gets in the way of gameplay, one of his Heart-to-Hearts with Shulk reveals that Reyn is afraid of spiders due to Shulk placing one in his shoe.
• Worthy Opponent: Somewhat. They're not quite hostile, but his strength and determination are eventually respected by Gadolt.
• You Are Not Alone: When Shulk is worried about saving Otharon from a bad vision and is afraid to tell others about his visions, Reyn tells him to share his visions with the team so they can change the future together.
• You Remind Me of X: Dunban compares him to how he used to be, and he's spot-on. Watch how Dunban acts during the prologue cutscene and then watch any five minutes of Reyn in action. You could swap their character models around during this time and nobody'd be able to tell the difference.

Dunban

Dunban

Age: 30; Height: 180 cm

"We may die if we take a stand here. But staying gives us the chance to change our destinies."

Voiced by: Rufus Jones (English), Ryō Horikawa (Japanese)

A high-ranking soldier of Colony 9, Dunban (ダンバン) was originally thought to be the only one capable of wielding the legendary Monado, and used the weapon to great effect against the invading Mechon at the Battle of Sword Valley, one year prior to the game's main story. During the battle, however, the Monado took a considerable toll on Dunban's health, so much so that his right arm is now almost completely paralyzed, and he is thus no longer able to wield the Monado, as any further exposure to the weapon could potentially kill him. However, he is still able to effectively wield a katana with his left arm to fight against enemies.

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• Ambiguously Related: To Ashera of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Ashera shares his complexion and personality, being a fierce warrior and even sharing Blossom Dance as their talent arts, making it likely that she's his daughter.
• Ambiguously Brown: The original Wii release had Dunban with noticeably dark skin, which stands out given that he's the biological brother of Fiora, who is a pale-skinned green-eyed blonde. Definitive Edition gives him a skintone that more closely matches Fiora's.
• Artificial Brilliance: Dunban is probably the best party member to not be player controlled, and will generally be good about using his arts when he should. Any strange behaviors can easily be fixed by changing his art palette to what the player wants (removing gutbuster forces him to use worldly slash, he's capable of using Final Flicker without killing himself unlike AI Shulk, and will usually use Peerless at the start of the battle if the player orders the party to focus attack) and unlike Reyn or Melia his AI seems to adapt to it. The only weakness is it doesn't know how to use his Tempest Kick into Daze combo.
• Badass Normal: Without the Monado he's still an incredibly skilled swordsman, even with only one working arm.
• Brought Down to Badass: Even though he loses both the Monado and the use of his right arm, Dunban is still an effective fighter.
• Badass Back: Thunder has him shoot out a blast of lightning that Dazes everything he has his back to.
• Badass Boast: "Born in a world of strife! Against the odds, we choose to fight! BLOSSOM DANCE!"
• Badass Cape: His standard outfit comes with one worn over his crippled arm.
• Badass Family: Has this with Fiora. Dunban is a warrior famous for his role in the victory at Sword Valley, and Fiora's his equal when it comes to fighting.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: After learning the truth about Metal Face, Dunban attempts to kill him. It takes one hell of an If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him! speech from Shulk to stop him from doing so.
• Big Brother Mentor: He's Fiora's literal older brother, and many of her Arts and skills synergize with his. He's known Reyn and Shulk for years and they look up to him as much they would their own older brother.
• Blood from the Mouth: When he tries to wield the Monado again during the Mechon raid, the strain on his body eventually causes him to vomit blood and collapse.
• Breakout Character: Was rated the most popular male character from the game in fan polls according to the Monado Archives, and tends to get a lot of extra attention in crossovers, including a Mii costume in Super Smash Bros. and cameo in Shulk's Final Smash, as well as three Expies in succeeding games in the form of Mòrag Ladair from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Ashera in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and Shulk himself, who adopted his fashion and fighting style in Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed.
• Bug Catching: He mentions in a few Heart-to-Hearts that he used to do this in his youth, and still has some interest in it. He even appreciates getting some insects as gifts from other party members.
• Cherry Blossoms: His Talent Art creates cherry blossom petals with each successful action.
• Classy Cravat: Wears one as part of his default General's Attire, reflecting his gentlemanly nature and status as a Cultured Badass.
• Combos: Worldly Slash, Electric Gutbuster, and Tempest Kick gain additional effects if they're used after Gale Slash. Furthermore, Thunder affects enemies in an area of effect behind him; Gale Slash sends him straight through smaller enemies (if he's close enough) and Tempest Kick finishes with his back to the enemy, so Thunder is best used after one of these (essentially weaponizing the Badass Back).
• Cultured Badass: A soldier with legendary fighting skills, who's still nevertheless a well-spoken gentleman and fond of spouting poetry even on the battlefield. He even wears a Classy Cravat!
• Critical Hit Class: Heat Haze is an aura that guarantees all critical hit. It makes Dunban hit like a truck and build the Party Gauge very quickly, which allows him to stack up his aura even further. His Critical Drain skill also heals him every time he scores a critical hit.
• Deadpan Snarker: Dunban can deliver quite the few quips when he wants to. One example is when the High Entia assassins arrive to kill the party.
  Dunban: Excuse me. We ordered room service an hour ago.
  Assassin: I'm afraid you've already eaten your last meal.
• Decoy Protagonist: You play as him for the prologue, where he's hailed as a legendary hero and the only one who can wield the Monado. Then he loses the use of his right arm and Shulk is introduced.
• Determinator: He wasn't chosen by the Monado the way Shulk was, but was able to wield it anyway through sheer Heroic Willpower, despite the fact that it electrocuted him every time he tried to use it. Ultimately this nearly killed him, left him bedridden for a year, and permanently cost him the use of his right arm. Even this doesn't stop him, though, as he just trains himself to fight with his left arm, and sets out to do everything he can to help Shulk avenge Fiora, even if he can now only wield a mundane sword.
• Does Not Like Spam: Hates Ether Plums with a passion. In fact, it's one of the few items that drops affinity the most when given to him. There's an achievement for giving him one anyway, however.
• Elemental Powers: Many of his Arts names are themed after weather and storm-related phenomena, and his BLOSSOM DANCE Talent Art comes with a good dose of Petal Power.
• Emotional Bruiser: According to Fiora, however, he's a massive softie underneath the badass persona he presents to everybody. This eventually shines through as he connects more and more with the party on an emotional level and reveals his Shipper on Deck hopes for her and Shulk.
• Expy: Of Jin Uzuki, as the resident katana-wielding long-haired Cultured Badass older brother of the main heroine.
• Empowered Badass Normal: With the Monado, though he could only activate Monado Enchant and Buster.
• Eyepatch of Power: He can wear one as a head gear. And he doesn't seem to lose any depth perception for some reason.
• First-Episode Twist: If you were able to correctly deduce what was happening in the opening scene and why he said those lines to Shulk, you may have spoiled the final act of the plot.
• Famed In-Story: In-Universe, his use of the Monado is considered the entire reason why the Homs weren't wiped out a year ago. Later on, the group comes to understand that, for all Dunban's badassery, he's still a normal person and is not to be put on a pedestal.
• Four-Star Badass: Implied to be a Defense Force general, going by his default set of clothes.
• Glass Cannon: He's arguably the game's third best damage-dealer, and he can dodge most anything if you spam agility gems on him, but when he does get hit, he gets hit hard. Epitomized by two of his Abilities. One of which massively improves Agility, and one of which increases the Aggro he draws, but both of which require him to be wearing absolutely no armor.
• Handicapped Badass: Lost the use of his right arm as a result of his using the Monado in the previous Mechon invasion of Bionis — the arm's not detached or anything, but his attempts to use it are incredibly painful. He doesn't let this slow him down any, though, proving just as proficient at swordfighting and traversing the landscape as the rest of the party using his left arm instead. In addition, the player can also have him wear an eyepatch as headgear, even if it's just for show.
• Heartbroken Badass: Even if he doesn't show it, it's clear that Fiora's apparent death affects him.
• Heroic RRoD: Over-use of the Monado resulted in the loss of his right arm. Hmm...
• Hijacked Destiny: Prior to Shulk being revealed as the Monado's chosen one, Dunban managed to force the Monado's use through sheer Heroic Willpower. Once Shulk was revealed to be the Monado's true wielder however, he was more than fine to let him use it from then on.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He was old war-buddies with Mumkhar and Dickson, not knowing that the former was planning to betray him and that the latter was merely using him. Granted, the latter did a pretty good job fooling everyone else too.
• In-Universe Nickname: "Beast", from Dickson, and "Dundun" from Riki.
• Katanas Are Just Better: His fighting style clearly revolves around the use of one, though quite a few of his weapons turn out to be hand axes, scythes, or BFS'.
• Large Ham: Mostly in battle. His attack cries are undeniably, ridiculously over-the-top. Doubles up as Not So Above It All given his status as the sensible Team Dad outside of combat. Blossom Dance in particular is evidence that Rufus Jones could become the English answer to the likes of Jamieson Price.
• Master Swordsman: He manages to get the upper hand against Mumkhar without much trouble when they duel at Valak Mountain. Note that Mumkhar is cybernetically enhanced and Dunban is fighting with his weaker arm.
• Nice Guy: Dunban is both an honorable fighter, and a genuinely kind individual.
• Not So Stoic: Despite normally being so as noted below, Dunban notably loses all control when he learns Mumkhar was behind the attack on Colony 9, to which his desire for revenge is on the same level as Shulk's.
• One-Armed Warrior: Downplayed as he still has both arms, but due to overusing the incompatible the Monado, he's unable to move his right arm without pain and lacks dexterity, but it didn't take him too long to get used to fighting with his left hand.
• One-Handed Zweihänder: Due to his paralyzed right arm, Dunban wields katanas and BFSes in one hand.
• One-Man Army: His Establishing Character Moment has him charging, alone and unsupported, into the midst of a Mechon army and carving a path straight through them without taking a scratch.
• Person of Mass Destruction: As the original wielder of the Monado he wiped out enough Mechon that they weren't seen on Bionis for a year.
• Promoted to Parent: Fiora was born twelve years after he was, and Dunban tells Shulk that he had to protect and raise her like a daughter, after their father was killed not long after.
• Real Men Wear Pink: His motifs are cherry blossoms, though ironically he doesn't like flowers as he dislikes their impermanence.
• Red Herring: His Famed In-Story character and the fact that you can't customize his equipment during the first stint where he joins your party paints him as a classic Sacrificial Lion Guest-Star Party Member. In reality, not only does he survive and go on to become a regular party member, it's Fiora who dies at the end of said sequence.
• Revenge Before Reason: Against Mumkhar, once the truth comes out. It's notable in that this is the first time Dunban displays any of his character flaws openly and Shulk has to help him back down because Dunban's Roaring Rampage of Revenge has the potential to be even worse than his.
• Scars Are Forever: Has a nasty-looking scar (which looks a lot like an electrical burn) running up the whole of his right arm from where the Monado rejected him.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • He's known that his sister, Fiora, has had a crush on Shulk for years and also knows the attraction is mutual. In a heart-to-heart with Reyn, Dunban says he approves because he believes Shulk and Fiora are good for each other, and around the mid-point of the game tells Shulk this.
  • Dunban also supports the possibility of Reyn getting together with Sharla and tells Reyn he should be honest with himself about his feelings for her. Reyn still denies it, but says he'll give it some thought.
• The Stoic: A kinder version. The man goes through things that would break most people, but he bottles it up to stay strong for everyone. He lacked Shulk's special affinity for the Monado and his gift of foresight, but he still wielded the blade through sheer Heroic Willpower, despite the fact that it electrocuted him every time he tried to use it.
• Sympathy for the Devil: In his final Heart to Heart with Melia, he admits to feeling some pity for Mumkhar despite the latter's atrocities as Metal Face. He notes that Mumkhar was once a genuine comrade to him even if he was always somewhat unreliable and theorizes that he was consumed by his lust for the Monado's power, on top of losing his home to the Mechon.
• Team Dad: And this during the other half. Riki might be older and an actual father, but Dunban acts as the most mature and mentorly male member of the party.
• The Teetotaler: If he is in the active party when talking to Nelo at the beginning of the quest "Losing the Taste for Alcohol", he will mention that he used to drink alcohol himself until Fiora advised him to stop due to the damage it could do to his health.
• Token Good Teammate: Of the three Sword Valley "heroes" that fought in the prologue, as Mumkhar and Dickson are both antagonists later on in the game.
• Took a Level in Badass: Dunban takes his level in badass by taking one in common sense. After he gives up the Monado, he becomes a lot calmer and much more responsible. This is most noticeable during his reunion with the party, where he tells Shulk to understand his limits after their second battle with Metal Face comes to an abrupt end. The Dunban of one year ago would have recklessly charged the Mechon without a second thought.
• Tranquil Fury: Every last one of his encounters with Metal Face... until he realises who he is.
• Unknown Rival: To Mumkhar to an extent. Dunban appears to have at least been aware of Mumkhar's jealousy towards him, but thought of their relationship as Vitriolic Best Buds instead of an outright hostile one. He had no idea just how much Mumkhar wanted the Monado and that Mumkhar had wanted Dunban dead for years.
• Unskilled, but Strong: His Monado usage can best be summed up as this. He’s quite skilled with conventional weapons, however.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: He has Inner Peace, a skill that greatly increases Agility when he's completely void of armour, creating a rare case of shirtlessness being a legitimate strategy.
• Warrior Poet: Recites a badass Haiku about war when using Blossom Dance.
• Western Samurai: He wields a katana, his Arts are labeled with kanji rather than katakana in Japanese, and his Blossom Dance Talent Art is themed around samurai motifs, despite living in a world that has neither any concept of Japan nor a Fantasy Counterpart Culture for it. Definitive Edition also gives him a traditional Japanese jinbei as an unlockable costume.
• World's Best Warrior: Was considered this before losing the use of his right arm. He was widely regarded as a living legend, and him wielding the Monado is the only reason the Homs weren't wiped out in the Battle of Sword Valley.

Sharla (Carna)

Sharla

Age: 21; Height: 168 cm

"I swear I won't stop until I've scrapped each and every one of you!"

Voiced by: Kellie Bright (English), Akeno Watanabe (Japanese)

Sharla (カルナ, Carna) is a medic of Colony 6's Defense Force. She uses an ether rifle to fight, and her specialty is healing.

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• Ambiguously Related: Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed heavily implies that Panacea Reid is her daughter with Reyn, as they share a Japanese voice actor and look almost idenitcal to the point they both have a mole under their lips (albeit on opposite sides of their face).
• Abnormal Ammo: In this world, bullets can heal wounds better than they can inflict them, for some reason. It's explained in a cutscene though, the healing and buff bullets she fires are fired into the air before they disperse ether for whatever effect is needed.
• Ambiguously Brown: Along with her kid brother (Juju), Otharon, and several of the survivors of Colony 6. Justified since, as Homs, they have no specified ethnicity.
• Angst Coma: Sinks into unconsciousness after Juju is kidnapped by Xord. She remains out cold for four hours, and is even haunted by a nightmare right before waking up.
• BFG: She wields a rather large rifle as a weapon.
• Big Sister Instinct: Just try to hurt Juju in front of her. Even if it takes her a long and painful trek through an Ether Mine, she will find her brother and she will put a bullet between the eyes of whoever took him.
• Break the Cutie: She almost loses her brother to Xord, and then loses her loved one after he becomes a Face.
• Can't Catch Up: She's a huge asset when she first joins the party, but her utility as a medic becomes moot by mid-game since Shulk, Dunban, and Melia all have Arts and passive support skills that mitigate damage. Her utility is further diminished by Riki, who also has an excellent AOE recovery art which has a much shorter cooldown period, and he has far more offensive potential. Couple this with her unique Cool Down mechanic and it can be hard to justify using her at all by late game. She isn't a bad party member, so much as everyone else just being far better. Doubles as a Crutch Character.
• Chainmail Bikini: The number of outfits she has that aren't Stripperific in some way can be counted on one hand. They generally don't look like they were designed as practical armor.
• Combat Medic: She's the primary healer, although she'll spend a lot of time fighting as well due to the insane cooldown times on her healing Arts.
• Cool Big Sis: Adopts Melia like her own sister, encouraging the girl in adapting to normal life and in pursuing romance.
• Crippling Overspecialization: The majority of Sharla's Arts are for healing, buffs, and debuffs. She only has 3 attack Arts. Meaning, she's unable to help sustain chain attacks. Made harder because her ether rifle overheats quickly, forcing her to repeatedly use her "Cool Off" talent Art to vent it, and the animation for it takes several seconds. It leaves her wide open to attack, unless someone covers for her.
• Dub Name Change: In Japan she's known as "Carna" (written "カルナ" in katakana).
• Facepalm: Her usual response whenever Reyn says or does something stupid.
• Goggles Do Nothing: She wears a set of goggles around her neck, but at no point in the story do they go ever around her eyes.
• Healing Hands: She's the main healer until Melia joins, but she uses her rifle rather than her hands to do so.
• Healing Shiv: Many of her arts come from her gun, with the bullets having healing and buffing effects.
• Her Heart Will Go On: Gadolt sacrificing himself to save the party prompts Sharla to grow stronger as a character.
• Heroic BSoD: When escaping from Agniratha, her Not Quite Dead fiancee Gadolt bravely sacrifices himself to allow the group to escape. You can imagine how Sharla acted after that.
• Loving a Shadow: Her friendship with Reyn is at first built on her seeing things in him that she idealized and sought in Gadolt. Reyn eventually catches on to this, but realises that he can't or shouldn't compete with him, leading to a "I Want My Beloved to Be Happy" moment. Interestingly it is indicated that Sharla's feelings for Gadolt were themselves a case of this, with her placing on him principles that he ended up not agreeing with or not living up to. Pointedly there is a scene where Sharla asks Reyn how he would deal with a particular situation (one she thought Gadolt was too pragmatic about, though she doesn't tell Reyn this), only for Reyn to honestly answer in a way that matches her own ideals perfectly. Basically, the things that attracted her to Gadolt that ended up not panning out are genuine things about Reyn.
• Maybe Ever After: Two of her heart-to-hearts reveal she's fallen for Reyn, though it's uncertain whether they're actually together by the game's ending.
• Ms. Fanservice: Pretty face, curvaceous body and her default outfit bares her midriff and shows a bit of cleavage along with short shorts and high boots that emphasise her thighs, legs and buttocks. All the other available outfits display at least one of said attributes. Dickson certainly notices.
• Out of Focus: After defeating Xord, Sharla largely disappears from active participation in the plot, although she does receive a brief resurgence in plot relevance when the hanging plot thread of Gadolt's disappearance is eventually addressed.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After the people of Colony 6 are revealed to have been eaten by Xord, she goes absolutely apeshit:
  Sharla: I swear I won't stop... until I've scrapped each and every ONE OF YOU!!
• Second Love: In her final heart-to-heart with Reyn, Sharla secretly laments the fact that Reyn would be returning to Colony 9 with Shulk and Fiora, rather than move to Colony 6 with her. Which leaves her to wonder who would eventually be by her side in Reyn's absence. However, the ending shows both Colonies have been relocated to the head of the Bionis, allowing Sharla and Juju to still spend time with Reyn.
• Shipper on Deck: She supports Melia's romantic interest in Shulk, even after Fiora's return and encourages Melia to not give up. She apologizes to Melia for this after it becomes clear how Shulk is head over heels for Fiora.
• Ship Tease: There's a lot of flirting between her and Reyn, and the ending implies that they've gotten together for real.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: The yin to Juju's yang. She's rational, he's emotional, she plans ahead, he reacts... until the end of the Ether Mine when she snaps and promises to murder every Mechon that exists, while Juju learns an important lesson about deliberate action that culminates in heading the reconstruction of Colony 6.
• Stone Wall: Equip her with heavy armor and her healing will let the team survive near infinite amounts of punishment.
• Team Mom: Especially in her Heart-To-Hearts with Dunban. After one, he thinks: "Now I know how Juju feels..." Lampshaded in a post-battle quote if she's in the party with Riki and Melia... because they're both older than her.
• Trademark Favorite Food: She loves fruit, as evidenced in the fact that the presents that give the most hearts are all fruits and the fact that there's an achievement for giving her 20 of them.

Melia Antiqua (Melia Ancient)

Melia Antiqua

Age: 88; Height: 156 cm

^{Click here to see Melia's appearance in Future Connected}

"If you do not grasp the importance of loved ones until after they are gone... That is simply too late."

Voiced by: Jenna-Louise Coleman (English), Shiori Katsuta (Japanese)

Princess Melia Antiqua (メリア) is a powerful mage who lives in the Royal City of Alcamoth prior to the game's events. Her arts focus on summoning elemental spirits and ether magic. She becomes the leader of the High Entia after Sorean dies. For tropes specifically pertaining to her in the third game, see here.

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• All Love Is Unrequited: She clearly has feelings for Shulk, something Sharla picks up on and tries to help her with. Fiora's return squashes any potential romance between the two, though Melia doesn't hold it against her.
• Artificial Stupidity: Putting her on AI control is an exercise in frustration. Her AI has very little regard for tactics, preferring to mindlessly use Elementals while at point-blank range. Since she's a Squishy Wizard, this very quickly ends in her demise.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Becomes Empress Melia at the end of Future Connected.
• Betty and Veronica: Initially acts as the Veronica due to her High Entia heritage and initial standoffishness, but her femininity and unrequited crush on Shulk make her the Betty when the mechonized Fiora rejoins the party.
• Black Magician Girl: Specializes in attack ether magic.
• Breakout Character: In Future Connected, she takes the starring role with all of the plot's events centered on her and the High Entia along with being the default player controlled character. Shulk was quite literally just along for the ride since she can't fly the ship, and his only large contribution to the plot is that defeating the Fog King requires his new invention. She is also the only member of this game's party to return as a plot-important character in the main story of Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
• Costume Porn: Her standard outfit is very fancy.
• Cuteness Proximity: Her quotes with Riki as the leader that give 4 hearts always has her commenting on the cuteness of Riki, as well as this quote:
  Melia: Riki, may I please stroke your soft fur?
  Riki: Melly always welcome!
  Reyn: Me too please!
• Determinator: It doesn't matter what gets thrown at her; she will never stop forging ahead, period. Even her weakest moments are only expressions of her strongest emotions, but after they are over, she'll continue regardless of her feelings.
• Deuteragonist: While the game mostly follows Shulk's journey to unlock the secrets of the Monado and defeat the Mechon forces, Melia has the second most prominent journey as she must deal with the inevitable responsibility of becoming Empress of the High Entia and major familial losses throughout the game. Future Connected later makes her the actual protagonist as it provides closure to this arc.
• Dude, She's Like in a Coma: Melia tries this on Shulk, but stops and berates herself for it.
• The Dutiful Daughter: She always tries to be dutiful to her father and her people.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: She ends the epilogue completely satisfied after a life full of misfortune. Her smile is something to behold.
• Elemental Powers:
  • Summon Ice
  • Summon Wind
  • Many of her debuffing spells, such as Shadow Stitch, evoke Casting a Shadow.
  • Summon Earth
  • Mind Blast
  • Summon Aqua
  • Summon Flare
  • Summon Bolt
• Exotic Eye Designs: Her irises each have a dark ring that surround a thin pupil, which signify that she is half-Homs.
• Expy: In Future Connected, she becomes one for Lora. Both characters get their own A Day in the Limelight side stories, in which, despite The Hero being a member of the party and having a weapon that plays a pivotal role in the plot, Lora and Melia are the respective leads. Similarly, both Lora and Melia are stalked by psychoes who come to a bad end toward the end of the story, with a tragically-themed final battle.
• Flower Motif: Her outfit in Future Connected is called "Anemone Style". White anemones, the colour of her default outfit, mean 'sincerity' in Hanakotoba (Japenese flower language).
• Fur Bikini: If you give her the Makna/Panther tops. Fanservice ensues.
• Forced to Watch: She can only watch in horror as Sorean sacrifices himself to save her from Metal Face's assault.
• Glass Cannon: Her health growth is horrible, worse than what Fiora started at. However, her attacks are guaranteed to hit, and are usually extremely powerful when leveled adequately, along with being able to stack while on reserve. The real issue with Melia starts to become the fact that there really aren't any enemies that actually need her absurd poison and chill damage to be killed, as even in the endgame the highest hp targets will die in 3 or four tics but have the potential of one hit killing her in return.
• Graceful Loser: She acquiesces soon after realizing that her love for Shulk would never be requited. Yet she takes it well, despite her hurt feelings, and decides not to tell him how she feels. Her heart seems to have moved on after the ending, as in the epilogue aside from a bit of awkwardness when accepting sidequests, her previous feelings towards Shulk are never brought up again, opting for a closer friendship instead come Future Connected.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Downplayed, Melia repeatedly states she is jealous of Fiora, but doesn't let it interfere with their relationship.
• Half-Human Hybrid: She's half Homs and half High Entia. This becomes critically important when it's revealed pure-blooded High Entia are purpose-built bioweapons to be turned into Telethia by Zanza, but half-bloods like Melia are immune to the transformation.
• The Hero: Of Future Connected. The plot concerns the future of her empire, and she's the one driving the story forward. Tellingly, she is the default party leader while Shulk is her second.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Gameplay-wise, the best Gift you can give to Melia that isn't a Love Source is a Dobercorgi!
• Heroic BSoD: Melia goes into a brief one after she witnesses Sorean committing a Heroic Sacrifice and subsequently dying in her arms.
• High-Class Gloves: Her royal outfits include very nice gloves.
• The High Queen: She becomes this in Future Connected. Tyrea thinks she's TOO good, and needs someone cynical to make sure she isn't tricked and used by people. Melia finds this extremely offensive, but doesn't object.
• Hopeless Suitor: She develops a romantic interest in Shulk following the events at the High Entia Tomb, but it isn't long before she finds out about Fiora. Sharla tries to encourage Melia to not give in so easily, but Melia replies that it's folly to deny what can be plainly seen. In one of Melia's last heart-to-hearts, she confesses to Fiora that she's in love with Shulk and admits she's jealous that he'll never look at her the same way he looks at Fiora. Fiora tries to deny it, but Melia kindly says there's no need for Fiora to pretend and says she isn't upset.
• Hopeless with Tech: Type 2. She can use advanced technology as well as the average person in her society, but she repeatedly makes it clear she has no idea how most of it works as she "has never had need to." In Future Connected she responds to one somewhat complicated explanation of how the group is to take advantage of an ether field with Shulk's upgraded weapon by noting she doesn't understand it.
• I Am Very British: Lampshaded by Reyn who dislikes her "posh accent", and it's an early indicator of her high status.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She effectively gives up on Shulk so that he and Fiora can be happy, despite her being part-Mechon.
• Lady of Black Magic: A mage with an array hard-hitting spells and a feminine, graceful princess.
• The Lancer: She provides a more practical counterpoint to Shulk's idealism in the beginning and eventually becomes one of his strongest supporters. Like many characters, she also has shades of being The Smart Girl, with her particular field being more ancient knowledge.
• Large Ham: Although she's usually very subdued compared to the rest of the party, it's a different story when fighting; her alternate shouts when using her Arts are all ridiculously over-the-top.
  Melia, when using Summon Flare: Star-searing flames of absolution!
  Melia, when using Shadow Stitch: Feel darkness blacker than midnight!
• Last of Her Kind: At the end of Xenoblade Chronicles, Sorean and Kallian are dead, leaving Melia as the last surviving member of the Antiqua family.
• Leotard of Power: Her default outfit if she isn't wearing any armor.
• Limit Break: Her Battle Arts that can only be used during Elemental Burst, especially Mind Blast, could qualify.
• Love Hurts: Shulk never does return her affections, and remains oblivious to them the entire game due to only having eyes for Fiora.
• Magic Staff: Her weapon, fitting for both a mage and a royal. In Future Connected her default staff has a Laser Blade tip that resembles the Monado.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Melia" comes from the Greek word "Μελίαι" (Meliai), which was the name given to a race of nymphs in Greek mythology. Being half-High Entia, she shares the youthful, angelic appearance characteristic of those nymphs.
  • "Antiqua" comes from the Latin word "antiquus", meaning "old" and "time-honored", which reflects her race's older society and long-livedness. Her Japanese last name was even just "Ancient", making it even more on-the-nose.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: Unlike most of the characters, Melia's Talent Gauge isn't filled with basic auto attacks, unless she's equipped with a Talent Boost gem. Instead, it's filled by discharging the elements she summons. This has the unfortunate effect of inducing Artificial Stupidity, as an AI controlled Melia doesn't utilize her spells in the best or fastest capacity.
• Mini Dress Of Power: Her standard armor form is a short dress, even her royal outfits.
• Modest Royalty: Melia's outfits, including her swimsuit, aren't as revealing as the other girls, befitting her status as royalty.
• Nice Girl: Even though she's the princess and future empress of the High Entia, Melia is nothing but a kind, humble, and modest individual.
• Pimped-Out Cape: Her cape is pretty fancy, with as the same decorations as her dress.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Her royal outfit has several subtle, but still fancy, details.
• Pink Means Feminine: Her default outfit has a lot of pink.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Is still one of Shulk's closest friends despite her feelings towards him not going anywhere. By the time Future Connected rolls around, he's the only other major party member to accompany Melia on her journey, and aside from a very brief moment, her previous romantic feelings towards Shulk are not brought up.
• Power Echoes: Her voice gains a noticeable reverb when she uses her strongest powers.
• Properly Paranoid: She questions if it's a good idea to release Zanza from his shackles and that her ancestors must have a reason to imprison him in the first place. Her suspicions turn out to be spot on when Zanza is revealed to be the Big Bad.
• Really 700 Years Old: 88 years old, specifically.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: The future ruler of the High Entia is first seen dispatching a Telethia in one blow (not really destroying it and was actually her stepmother trying to get her killed, but still). After that, she joins the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits that will eventually cease Mechonis's assault on Bionis and, later, kill an Omnicidal Maniac Jerkass God.
• Shipper on Deck: Ships Sharla/Reyn in her last Heart to Heart.
• Sibling Murder: Of the Mercy Kill variety, toward Kallian after he gets turned into a Telethia and fuses with Lorithia. Albeit, its implied Kallian actually finished himself off in order to kill Lorithia along with him, as he tells Melia to "leave her to me" at the end of the fight.
• Sole Survivor: By the end of Xenoblade Chronicles, Melia becomes the last living member of the Antiqua family since her parents and brother have already died.
• Squishy Wizard: With shades of The Red Mage. She is the least durable party member.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She acts very formal around Shulk, even as she develops love for him.
• Summon Magic: Her elemental spells are this in a fashion, as they call forth an elemental spirit that can be fired to inflict damage.
• Super Mode: When Melia's Talent Gauge is full, she enters Element Burst. While Element Burst is active, her Elemental Discharges deal more damage and she can use Burst End and Mind Blast. Element Burst has a chance of ending each time Melia discharges an element, although the chance gets lower the higher her tension is.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Her eyes become these when she uses her most powerful attacks. Notably rather than just turn golden in colour they outright shine with golden light.
• Status Buff: Her intended playstyle, supporting her allies with her various elements and attacking with either Damage Over Time or during Chain Attacks to avoid taking aggressivity.
• Took a Level in Badass: The final arc of Future Connected completes her Character Development and showcases her transition from "Princess" to "Empress" as she leads the Companions in battle in defense of Gran Dell, then takes charge in the battle against the Fog King at the end. She even delivers the killing blow in a huge explosion of ether energy she had charged up, showcasing more power than she ever had before.
• Tranquil Fury:
  • She doesn't lose her cool when Lorithia gives the "Take That!" Kiss to her brother, but it's clear to all that she's pissed.
  • Even earlier than that, she's the only party member to not be fazed when Mumkhar takes Mechon-Fiora hostage in exchange for the Monado. Instead, her response is to Mind Blast him and Metal Face in rapid succession, freeing Fiora in the process and setting up Mumkhar's boss fight.
    Melia: We will not bow to you!
• Trauma Button: Downplayed, but she shows the deaths of her personal guard still haunt her when in Future Connected Maxis declares his group will serve as her honor guard, she flashes back to the aforementioned deaths, and shuts down any further discussion of the idea, demanding Maxis and all his soldiers stay to protect the settlement.
• Trauma Conga Line: Oh boy.
  • Lost her mother while young, probably just by outliving her.
  • Is a half-blood in a society that still holds a lot of racism towards all other species.
  • Grows up expecting her big brother to become emperor, leaving her to have no real purpose in life.
  • In the process of failing to kill a Telethia, watches four of her closest protectors get wiped out within moments of each other.
  • Is named heir to the throne, a position she doesn't appear to want.
  • Discovers that her stepmother is the one who keeps sending all these highly-lethal Telethia after her, and finds out much later that she has a secret stepsister who was in on it.
  • Watches her father get run through at close range, who subsequently dies in her arms mid-sentence.
  • Has her crush on Shulk suffocated by Fiora's return.
  • Watches her people get turned into Telethia, destroying a large chunk of her society just so they can then go on to destroy all remaining life.
  • As a result of this event, is forced to kill her brother personally (and, in an optional sidequest, her stepmother), as well as a number of her other transformed people.
  • Unlike the rest of the party, gets no real compensation or happy ending at the end of the original story. Future Connected however, does help mitigate this.
  • Will eventually outlive her Homs and Nopon friends, many of them several times over.
  • And through all that, she still keeps her chin up.
• Tritagonist: While introduced late in the story, she serves this role by virtue of being unconnected to the Homs colonies and having her own arc regarding the High Entia species, her Coming of Age Story as their next monarch, and her being a potential (albeit rejected) love interest for Shulk. Future Connected further emphasizes this role by making her the main character of the expansion, and she's the only member of the first game's cast to appear in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 outside of a flashback.
• True Blue Femininity: Her default outfit has some blue to go with the pink.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Her Starlight Kick attack is basically Keiji Mutoh/The Great Muta's Shining Wizard.

Riki

Riki

Age: 40; Height: 60 cm

"New Hom Hom friends! Meet this year's legendary Heropon, Riki! Riki live to serve!"

Voiced by: Wayne Forester (English), Yuki Kaida (Japanese)

Riki (リキ) is a member of the mercantile Nopon race. Although he looks like a child, he is actually 40 years old and has eleven children. A natural story-teller, he will go on at length about how he is actually the true legendary hero spoken of in the prophecies.

Click here to read Riki's own take on himself.

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• Ambiguously Related: He's confirmed to be related to Riku from Xenoblade Chronicles 3, but it's unclear how. He might be Riku's father or grandfather through Kino.
• Achilles' Heel: Because Riki is so short, he is unable to fight in waist-high water, where everyone else can still fight just fine.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Despite his ego, Riki is a pretty strong party member.
• Back Stab: Sneaky does triple damage if done from behind. Bitey-Bitey's Bleed duration is also extended if the attack connects from behind.
• Badass Adorable: One of his battle quotes is:
  "Riki can win by himself."
• Badass Family: His daughter Nene and adopted son Kino are just as if not more dangerous in battle as he is.
• Be the Ball: During his introduction, he falls from a great height and hits Reyn in the face, then proceeds to bounce around the party. Melia even bumps him like a volleyball.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Despite being more of a comic relief character, Riki is quite dangerous in battle, and even tends to have higher HP than most of the other protagonists.
• Big Eater: He brings eating in much of his dialogue, and can eat a lot despite his small stature.
  "Riki's job is eating."
• Big Fancy House: His house is a whole bunch of standard Nopon houses stacked together. Some of his neighbours are pretty impressed with it and chalk it to his status as the Heropon, but a family like his needs the living space.
• Book Dumb: Comments between him and other Nopon NPCs suggest him to be almost as educationally lacking as Reyn, such as him being illiterate and sleeping through some of his classes.
• Butt-Monkey: His intro involves him doing the saddest excuse for an entrance and being pelted with food by the other Nopon. He's the appointed Legendary Heropon because he is deeply in debt to the village (to the equivalent of 20,000 fish eggs according to the "Riki's Crazy Crystal Plan" Heart-To-Heart).
• Breath Weapon: This is how he performs many of his ether arts.
• Captain Obvious: Used by him and mocked by Reyn when Riki first joins up.
  "Dinobeast is big and scary."
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Riki's response to Dunban saying "I can feel my power returning to me!" during battle? "Power sound like sour. Sweets are better."
• Damage Over Time: He has a rather pathetic damage output... but his health and Battle Arts that focus on debuffing and slowly sapping the health of enemies allow him to outlast almost anything. He can also purge the debuffs off to do a ton of burst damage.
• Dude, Not Funny!: Even if it's in his nature to be optimistic, sometimes he is rather oblivious to people's feelings and/or how to properly respond to them. As a result, sometimes he say things with really bad timing, which often results in him being called out for it by the other party members, like declaring that he's bored and hungry in the aftermath of Melia's father's death.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: If played right, Riki is one of the most useful characters, combining elements of thief and tank with some very useful XP-boosting passive skills that can be shared with the others. At first though, the rest of the party treat him as a borderline joke, though this tapers off later, where they all find him a good friend and simply humor his "Sidekick" type moments.
• Elemental Powers:
  • Freezinate.
  • Burninate.
  • Lurgy poisons enemies.
  • Behave summons a flower bed.
• Expy: Of Chu-Chu, as the Sidekick Creature Nuisance of the team with a Verbal Tic, although unlike Chu-Chu, Riki is a powerhouse from the get-go.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: He'd have you believe that he's a legendary heropon. Nobody is really fooled, but they humour him. Later subverted during the quest given to him by the Nopon Sage to make him become the True Heropon.
• Fighting Clown: Riki may be tiny and silly, but he's pretty powerful. He has high amounts of health (higher than Reyn, but the latter does eventually catch up), decent bulk, and several debuffs that can severely hinder the enemy.
• Gentle Touch vs. Firm Hand: The gentle touch to Oka's firm hand. Riki is willing to go through Determinator lengths to make sure his children are happy and healthy, while Oka is known to spank first and ask questions later. According to Nene and Kino's descriptions of what their home like is like, Oka puts a stop to naughty behavior while Riki protects them from danger and teaches the life lessons.
• Good Parents: Riki's reason for becoming the Heropon was to raise money for his large amount of children and later gives advice to Dunban on how it is to watch them grow up and leave. He continually gets moments in sidequests and Heart-to-Hearts that show despite his silliness he is a responsible father. He also adopted Kino with no fuss once he realized the small child was wandering around with no home to go back to or parents to take care of him.
• Happily Married: Given that he and Oka have eleven children, which is highly unusual in Nopon society owing to the difficulty of feeding that many, it can be presumed that he is this despite the occasional henpecking from Oka.
• Henpecked Husband: To Oka. In the epilogue, he freaks out when he realizes how much he trouble he's in if he doesn't bring enough fish home for his children.
• Hidden Depths:
  • He's surprisingly empathetic and responsive to the feelings of others.
  • He's also well aware of his status as comic relief, but jumps headfirst into it because he knows the others need it, even if this sometimes results in him getting told off instead.
  • Future Connected goes to great lengths to show that despite his silliness, he's a responsible dad who would give up anything for his children (blood related or not) and his household falls into chaos without him there to help Oka with the huge number of kids.
  • Future Connected reveals that in the Time Skip he of all people invented Nopon firearms by reverse engineering Sharla's Ether Rifle. Shulk is amazed that Riki could do this and at first wonders why Riki didn't ask him for help, before realizing that the only reason Riki did something so out of character was because he got tunnel vision when it came to helping his son, due to Kino not being able to wield a Biter.
• Impossible Thief: His Talent Art is basically standard Video Game Stealing fare... except with the right upgrades, he can learn to steal EXP, AP, and even stats!
• Improbable Weapon User: Uncannily reminiscent of "grabber" toys like these◊. This apparently extends to the rest of the Nopon race; the soldiers they send to Alcamoth are all armed with them. It doesn't help that one of his later weapon skins is quite literally just a dead fish.
• I See Dead People: It's implied he can hear voices of those who have passed. The first instance when he hears the same final words Kallian gave to Melia after defeating Disciple Lorithia and a heart-to-heart in Ose Tower with Dunban also says he can hear the voices of ghosts, supposedly those who died in the Monado expedition including Shulk's parents.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Technically with everyone in the party since he's older than Dunban, but especially with Melia, who's about 48 years older than he is.
• Jack of All Trades: Riki is the only member who can perform all of the Damager, Healer, Tank roles effectively. As a damager he can stack up Damage Over Time and has some nasty back attacks. As a healer he has a strong Area of Effect heal, and as a tank he can use his gigantic HP and high Agility to survive. However, Melia is a much stronger Damage Over Time character, Sharla has more healing options, and Reyn and Dunban has better aggro control. Riki is a good choice for every team, but he will not always be the best.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: An inversion. Although he's clearly a good guy at heart, his Pride still causes him to do some pretty dickish things. For example: After fighting the first Telethia, he pretty much takes all the credit... and most of the other Nopon seem to believe him.
• Lightning Bruiser: Riki's health is massive; he is one of the two characters who can easily exceeds 9900 HP without the need of Gems. He rivals Fiora for the second highest Agility in the party. He has four Damage Over Time arts that can stack up very quickly to drain the enemies' health. Finally, he has an Area of Effect heal when things get dicey.
• Literal-Minded: Riki's response to the other characters' comments tend to involve him interpreting their comments literally. Case in point, have both Riki and Reyn on your team and Riki will respond to Reyn's "Now we're getting started!" with "But Riki already started...".
• Magic Knight: Hits hard with either his Biter or ether magic.
• Manchild: Despite being 40 years old, having eleven kids and being the oldest among the party by their respective species' lifespans, Riki rarely acts his age (but he does have his moments), which leads to the rest of party's surprise when he reveals his marital status.
• Older Than They Look: He's 40 and married with eleven children. The joke is lost a bit in translation. In the Japanese dub, Riki has a very high-pitched, childlike voice, which leads the party to be confused when his family shows up to bid him farewell. In English, Riki clearly has an adult voice, even if it's still high-pitched, so this comes as less of a surprise.
• Papa Wolf: Being a father himself, his paternal instincts sometimes show up when he comments on sidequests that involve a parent fearing for their children.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: While his raw damage output isn't magnificent, his high HP (even more than the party's tank) and numerous Damage Over Time moves ensure that he can easily whittle down enemies and often outlast them much longer than anyone else, especially with appropriate gems and upgrading skills, and this is despite only being two feet tall. (Riki's short height is actually a problem for any battles taking place in shallow water since he will automatically start swimming while his taller companions can stand which effectively makes him unusable.)
• The Pollyanna: He's constantly cheerful, even when the going gets tough.
• Random Drop Booster: He has innate abilities that will increase enemies dropping better loot: one for medium quality loot, and one for high quality loot. These abilities can be shared among other party members if they have enough affinity points with him.
• Sidekick Creature Nuisance: Well, Reyn thinks so. They get over it.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He and Reyn tend to make fun of each other since their first meeting.
• Status Effects: Half of his moveset is based around them. Bitey Bitey causes bleed damage, while Burn- and Freezinate cause Blaze and Chill damage respectively.
• Stone Wall: Riki has the highest HP stat in the party, but has a very low damage output compared to the rest of it. However, he works around the low output via his various debuffs. With the introduction of two specific builds for Sharla as of Definitive Edition that abuse level 12 arts, there are absolutely no ways to reliably raise Riki's damage output to the level of the other cast members. In return, his heal and debuffs can make the entire party nigh unkillable.
• The Chosen One: Parodied. He is this year's Legendary Heropon. He was chosen by the village chief/seer, but it turns out he was "chosen" because he's in serious debt to the chief. When he does repay his debt (by defeating the big, scary dinobeast AKA the Telethia all on his own), the chief sends him adventuring with Shulk and co. because of an ancient prophecy; Riki doesn't buy it for a second. Played straight in a side quest brought about by the Nopon Sage that allows him to earn the title of True Heropon.
• Tagalong Kid: Fills this role despite being a middle-aged man due to his goofiness and Nopon mannerisms. Everybody else in the party has quite a big reason for wanting to fight the Mechon, be it avenging loved ones or trying to rescue them. Riki is pretty much roped into assisting them, and a few Heart-to-Hearts actually lampshade this. He's just along to make friends and prevent any potential threats to his family.
• Team Dad: He has his moments and is mentally perhaps the oldest of the party. Chronologically he's second after Melia, and where wisdom is concerned second after Dunban.
• Third-Person Person: "Riki is Heropon!" Then again, this trait is common to pretty much all Nopon.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Apparently insects, as evident with the achievement you get when you give 30 insect presents to other part members as Riki, as well as the fact that all of the presents that gives the most hearts when given to him are insects.
  • In various cutscenes, it is fish. He hunts a huge fish for Dunban at the Fallen Arm ("Grilled fish taste yum yum!"), he has an entire Heart to Heart with Reyn about it, the epilogue includes a fishing scene, and one of his most powerful weapons is literally a fish.
• Trrrilling Rrrs: While not to the hilariously over-the-top extent of Alrest's version of Bana, Riki does roll his R's on occasion.
• Underrated and Overleveled: Story-wise, he's a middle aged civvie who's only the Heropon because he was forced to. Gameplay wise, he's an excellent tank, and one of the best boss killers in the game.
• Utility Party Member: Even though he's a capable fighter in his own right, Riki's talent art and various unlockable skills focus more on easing the grind of sidequests, leveling up, and exploring.
• Verbal Tic: Adding "pon" to every second word in his vocabulary, just like the rest of the Nopon. In the Japanese dub, he ends every single sentence with "mo", which gets translated in subsequent games as "meh-meh", including for Riki's own appearance in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and for his littlepons Kino and Nene in Future Connected.
• Video Game Stealing: His Talent Art. It's a little more than just that, though — see above.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Riki gets called out on his Innocently Insensitive behavior several times. A few times it finally gets through to him completely, and he is deeply affected.
• "X" Marks the Hero: A variation, as it's on his stomach rather than his face.
• Wingding Eyes: The X variant; shows this twice: the first time during his introduction and the second time when he was knocked unconscious by the Leone Telethia.
• Work Off the Debt: He's assigned to be A Hero to His Hometown because of his debts and gets them forgiven after helping the party defeat the Telethia. Unfortunately, his wife has accrued more debts to support their growing family, so he's forced to keep working as the Heropon.

Future Connected Party Members

Kino

Kino

Voiced by: Emma Tate (English), Yuka Yamamori (Japanese)

Kino is a young Nopon who wishes to be a "hero" like his father. He carries an Ether Gun made by his father.

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• The Baby of the Bunch: Of Riki's kids he's one of the much younger ones, adopted or not.
• Can't Catch Up: It's revealed in a Quiet Moment that the reason Kino uses a Ether Rifle substitute - instead of a Biter like Riki does - is because his wings just didn't grow big enough when he hit his growth spurt. Riki promptly spent days looking for parts - some of which are quite rare now that the Bionis is gone, like the fruit that acts as the gun barrel - and eventually invented a completely organic rifle just so his son wouldn't feel bad.
• Happily Adopted: He isn't Riki's blood son. Riki found him one day wandering around by himself and brought him home to his family who all accepted him as kin immediately.
• Heroic Lineage: Deconstructed. Because he isn't Riki's biological child, he rushes into danger because he wants to be a hero like Riki both to repay his family for their kindness, and follow his adopted father's example. Luckily Nene follows him to ensure his safety.
• No Social Skills: Due to being a small child, his social skills aren't always the greatest. Nene frequently scolds him for it.
• Parental Abandonment: Kino has no idea where his real parents are. Riki found him as a toddler wandering around and took him in.
• Shrinking Violet: He's rather shy around strangers, but he gradually opens up over the course of the story.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Sharla. He also wields a gun and shares Noponized versions of several of her arts.

Nene

Nene

Voiced by: Emma Pierson (English), Mai Aizawa (Japanese)

One of Riki's older daughters who looks after Kino.

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• Cool Big Sis: To Kino, and all of Riki's kids in general. There was a lot of slack to pick up after Riki left on his quest, and Nene had to mature a lot to help her mom handle their entire family without him.
• Cute Bruiser: Very strong despite her small and cutesy appearance. She can even knock giant monsters on their asses in cutscenes.
• Declaration of Protection: Anything that wants to get to Kino has to go through her first.
• The Gadfly: While a doting sister to Kino, she also likes to tease him sometimes.
• Heroic Lineage: Daughter of Riki, the greatest Heropon ever produced by Frontier Village.
• Hot-Blooded: Generally pretty fiery in combat, as she isn't scared of threatening a monster over 20 times her size. She also threatens to give the entire world (Shulk included) an Oka-style spanking if the people refuse Melia's peacemaking attempts.
• She Is All Grown Up: Changed a lot in barely one year. According to her, Nopon puberty hits like an adorable truck. It's mostly a bit of meta-commentary, as she obviously didn't look any different from any of Riki's other children back when she wasn't a major character. This is consistent with what is said about Nopon puberty in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 involving Tora, who also grew a huge amount in very little time (though unlike Nene, Tora was larger and fatter than other Nopon children his own age even before his growth spurt, and it gets mentioned a few times that post puberty Tora is significantly larger than the average Nopon too.)
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Reyn. She fights with a Noponized version of his scrap Driver and shares several of his arts.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She has a crippling fear of heights, despite Nopon being forest creatures who love to climb up trees. One day, she decided to climb the biggest tree in Makna, did it, saw one of the best sceneries the world has to offer... and then looked down. Riki took the whole day to find her, too afraid to go back down and crying for help. Even today she has a hard time going any higher than a few branches off the ground.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: She had to grow up fast to help take care of her younger siblings. Occasionally she slips up and reveals she wishes she could act like her silly family.