u/Dr_Meme_Man

Okay, everyone talking about Doctor Doom having a throne insignia in the shape of a conduit got me thinking about the Zohar/Conduit in general. I talked about the eye and gem being removed from the Monolith, but why change it in the first place, and what is the symbol based on?

Look, i'm not an expert in law...but you really can't copyright a shape; especially if said shape is 100's of years old. It's like the biblical cross, anyone can use or rely on it. Same with it being based on the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. At the end of the day...it's just a giant rectangle. A 3-dimensional rectangle, sure, but still a rectangle. Monolithsoft could've just kept it as a rectangle to honor the studios' inspiration, but they changed it to. what we now see it as.

Again, now that I've seen it in the Avengers' Doomsday trailer, there has to be some historical reference we missed regarding its influence. Clearly it''s meant to represent something. I'm hoping maybe...you guys have an idea?

I’ll admit that I’m not as well-versed in Xenosaga as you guys are, but when the character dropped in Xenoblade 2 a couple of weeks ago, I was happy. It’s nice for the representation of the franchise and all that. However, as I was going through the wiki about her affinity chart with Easter eggs in it (I don’t have a switch 2 to view them myself), this one in particular caught me off guard.

As far as I’m aware through just googling, she doesn’t have an outfit like Rex in the game. Of course, my view is limited since I haven’t played it myself.

Do you guys know what she’s talking about?

This is gonna be more brief than my usual posts, I just felt like it was important to take note of.

Going by Perfect Works, Cross changed the “Marking”, or energy capacity, of the Urban Skell to have it equal the Ares in function. It’s something that Grahf did throughout the course of the story with something called “the Power”.

Strangely though, unlike Weltall-ID, the urban isn’t encountering any heat issues of its own when across is channeling such large amounts of power into the mainframe. Might be thanks to Skells already being based on the Ares and its technology.

Don’t get me started on how Cross is “putting” so much external energy into the Urban weaponry. That’s an entirely different conversation.

With MOMO finally introduced into the Xenoblade canon, it’s time to really go back and determine what exactly Vector did in the back drop of the story.

First off, we have the Core Crystals. Klaus never said that he created the core crystals. He just said that he gathered them all and they already contained the memories of people in his world. So Vector would’ve had to have been working on a project to replace human brain cells; only to repurpose them to contain different memories of people in Klaus’ world.

How do we know Vector was behind it? Well, MOMO makes it very clear. Her very existence and ability to tap into the abyss and the probability phenomenon is all thanks to the imaginary mode with Vector branding all over it. Them being aware of “the other side” means they’ve done extensive research on it, along with consciousness and memory, before funding and developing MOMO.

Finally we have Kos-Mos. The information on how to build the beanstalks across Earth resides in her; blueprints intact and all. Why this information resides in her of all places, I’m not sure. What we do know is that the vector brand on her headgear, along with her being in a core crystal. This is more evidence to suggest that Vector was behind the core crystal project, along with the construction and development of the satellites.

Vector seems to have such a stronghold on this world. Even the radios, a basic communication system, is developed by them. I couldn’t tell you what their goals were during Klaus’ era, but it couldn’t have been just immortality. MOMO’s imaginary function implies that they were trying to mimic the probability phenomenon that the Conduit performs; an artificial “Zohar”. She can’t have been the only one with this. She might’ve been a “test subject” to create the Xenoblade equivalent of the anima relics.

Or maybe even the start of the “Vesselai” program in Genesis, but I’m getting ahead of myself

Okay, obviously maybe they’re going for something different in this iteration and I’m overthinking it. However, I find it very intriguing that the center piece of the Zohar is just…gone from the initial design.

There was the eye in Xenogears, which was the actual Zohar itself. The eye was called artificial in PW, so that’s a whole other can of worms that’s lost to time.

Then there was the Zohar in Xenosaga. The scene of it being discovered implies that the jewel is the main Zohar, with it being the first thing that manifests, while the Monolith is a physical projection of its power.

Then there’s Xenoblade, the Conduit. It’s more of a projection of energy than anything else; hopping from one place to another. Personally, I wouldn’t call it a physical mass of any kind, which is part of the conundrum.

At most, all we have is the concept art of the Xenosaga version of the Zohar in Origin; clearly showing that some physical object in the monolith was going to be established at some point.

All I’m saying is that it feels a little more than a “we wanted it to be different” explanation, considering that, outside of it being a monolith, the ”jewel” of the Zohar is its most distinctive and defining trait across all iterations.

Oh my gosh, finally beat this lizard!

I’ll be back for more grinding on this guy, but MAN!!!! It’s over!!

I even managed to plunder another Evil Eye! It happened before, but I’m happy we’ve “beaten” this game.

My hands are shaking, oh my gosh!!!!

Previous Parts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

The nature of what “God” in this franchise is will be addressed on a later date. However, we can at least understand what He wants out of these characters.

“God” may be the tortoise in the Achilles Paradox, The first and beginning, but he’s approaching a finish line regardless, the last and the end. Achilles, or the Samaarians/Humanity, will soon meet him at the finish line. But the past iteration couldn’t do that.

Despite the records calling Void a deathless child, the Samaarians’ anger towards him destroying their man-made “Heaven” was stronger than their compassion towards an innocent curiosity. What Void did in the future could’ve been avoided had they accepted this “imperfection” in their society, rather than branding him a traitor. Their fear and hatred towards “foreign/Xeno” concepts and factors outside their control will always be their downfall in the Eternal Recurrence they’re stuck in.

However, in this new iteration of the multiverse, things are changing. We’re seeing the journey of characters who want to accept the world and what it comes with. We’re seeing them accept “death” and what they can inherit from it. We’re seeing them accept each other and what they can do together with bonds. They’re slowly but surely deviating from the ideologies that trapped Samaarians, and their possible previous iterations, in a cycle of isolation and fear.

As Alvis acknowledged, not everything in existence is perfect, but we can learn from it. Whether you’re in or out of the “passage of fate”, that relationship or brotherhood you have with others in either category, rather than isolation in another “Plane”, can get you farther than you can imagine.

There may still be hope for the multiverse…

At the dawn of the cosmos, the Samaarians arrived from another plane

These words, spoken by Luxaar, are further justified by the newly added Miran Archives. The plane in question is regarded as "Heaven" or the "Upper-domain" if you want to follow Xenosaga's definition or term. When they arrive in a universe, it's normally at the start of it; meaning that it could be their personal playground if they wanted it to be so. Not only that, but the spears and records make it clear that Void was imprisoned before "time and space" began, meaning that the Rift wasn't a thing around their time.

The problem is that every race, even them, had to have a starting point as well. Samaarians can't have just started out on a whim, and their connection to "God" is a technicality at best, given how, despite death being "anathema" to them, they needed a scientist (Void) to further study the properties of the Conduit. Some of the samaarians even look like humans, despite some looking like elves (very similar to the world of Anshar)

Stranger still is that they have an advanced form of foresight and control of paradox as well. The technology and relationship to "Heaven" puts them leagues above anything in the xeno-series so far. The spears they created were designed to trap void, but the records also imply that they foresaw him breaking free one day; giving instructions on how to use them. They also seemed selective on which of their descendants in a given universe inherits their "masterpieces".

We have the pieces of a puzzle to figuring out what's going on. Them being present "before time and space began" means that they've had an unprecedented relationship with the beyond. Even without reaching the zenith that was the wave existence, the original paradox, the fact remains that this is close to being the fulfillment of what it was back in xenogears: the first and the last or the beginning and the end. Moreover, them having foresight abilities or technology means that they'd see the pathway that every universe would take once they've entered the start of one. Although, even if they didn't have foresight, the fact remains that their technology could download and shift through the data stored in the rift of every parallel universe and the paths it would take as its a place where everywhere and everywhen is stored and happening at the same time.

I think I can pinpoint the exact paradox they're trying to fufill. Fortunately, it's the easiest one to understand...

In regards to how a paradox makes itself known, there are symbols of it throughout the series. You obviously have Red and Purple as Animus and Anima, blue has become synonymous to memory/feelings of consciousness, and green is a physical manifestation of ether.

However, I'm more interested in the "gold" aesthetic and light that's present in the series. We're already aware that gold represents something that's outside the sytem, so when Shulk, Noah, Rex and Pneuma summoned the gold light, that's them reaching outside the boundaries of the universe to a place that is, normally, unreachable. The samaarians having this gold aesthetic or light in practically everything means that they've have the beyond in their grasps and could willingly perform paradoxes on a whim.

I believe that the biggest paradox in the trilogy are the city citizens themselves as their gold status is indicative of this phenomenon. They were all supposed to be born into the new world, not Aionios, and are a result of the merge successfully occuring. Yet, despite the merge not happening yet, they're still alive and active in the "now" or present thanks to the Ouroboros stones. The existence of the city residents acts as a grandfather or bootstrap paradox for Aionios and the fate of the world. Without the city residents, the merge wouldn't be successful, but it's because the merge failed that they currently exist within Aionios despite being products of a future that's yet to come.

Aionios, as it stands, is a time loop that involved paradoxes and, let's be honest, manipulation of energy placement within its space to resolve itself and resume the flow of its universe. Using this logic, and as far as how the Rift is presented to us, it’s safe to assume that the souls of the City residents are within two different parallel universes at the same “time”, or as much as “time” makes sense in that space. One universe containing Aionios, and another universe containing the newly “Lost Jerusalem”. I’d imagine that things could get…buggy for these guys as this is bordering the “beginning and the end” nature that the Wave Existence followed.

This mastery of paradox, or nature of existence, is almost exactly what the Samaarians used to have (or do have). Even Origin, much like their own ships, can cross into the Rift and exit into another universe. Very suspicious that the Samaarians never addressed this phenomenon despite the Rift making it very obvious to their systems that this was happening…

I hate and love time travel in stories, mainly because the amount of paradoxes that can occur is too varied. Xenoblade heavily suggests that control of paradoxes and causality are given to a handful of people.

Admittedly, I was too coy with describing the Rift as a universal catalogue. In truth, it’s the area where a person, object or energy crosses through during a space-time transition event. Concepts of “Anywhere” and “Anywhen” doesn’t matter in this space. You don’t age as time doesn’t exist there, and, as I’ll explain later, you can go to any point of history in any universe.

A lot of people have noted that future vision and not having a set path is contradictory to my definition of how the rift works. However, in truth, every universe so far has been walking a tightrope between continuation and annihilation. Without those who have power that exists outside of the universes’ set course, it would’ve surely been destroyed by now. You change history, you change the glass shards, thus changing the course of the rift. You master paradox itself.

For example, let’s describe what Noah does by using Tachyon Slash. Tachyons themselves are tricky; I’ve asked this before and the comments essentially boiled down to “causality will break if they exist”. A grandfather paradox could occur as you could be sending the FTL particle or energy into the past. They can’t exist in their universe at all, and the glass shard is already defined.

However, by giving access of this imaginary place to Noah in order to perform the Tachyon Slash, you give him the ability to change the universe and change the glass shard by breaking laws of causality.

A simpler example can also be defined by the vision mechanic in XC1. Shulk using his visions causes time to stop and has him seeing the outcome ahead of time. By changing the future, he breaks the glass (a visual demonstrated while in player combat) and changes it into a new outcome for the universe. Shulk is essentially breaking the law of causality thanks to a higher power.

This is why I consider Telethia to be anti-ghosts (even if they have yet to clash). They’re just as dangerous as ghosts and wielders of paradox because, much like both of them, telethia possess a stronger kind of connection to the Rift. Their mind-reading abilities involve reading a persons’ state of being or soul that is linked to the abyss, or collective unconscious, not necessarily linked to a physical universe.

I haven’t even attempted to talk about how all this even relates to the citizens of Anshar being Samaarians and Saviorites at the exact same time because paradoxes always break my brain to the point of exhaustion, but just know that they’re the most important paradox of all.

You know? When I was making that whole theory about the blue light's relevancy, I didn't expect to have an almost one-to-one adaptation of the Rendezvous with Rama cylinder. I figured that they'd just stick with it being a kind of ancient satellite or cargo ship that made its way to the new world. We know the characters are in this cylinder object somehow, but it could be adjacent to the conflict surrounding the Galactic Federation.

I kind of knew that Neo-Jerusalem would have some relevancy here as well. At the very least, even if not Neo-Jerusalem, we're on or near a foreign world that has evolved its animals and life due to the Anima relic terraforming and changing the environment. We even see humanoid cats in the trailer, extremely similar to wrothians, and I don't need to tell you that isn't a normal occurence under regular circumstances. Ga Jiarg did say in a heart-to-heart that house cats are extremely similar to how wrothian babies behave, even bringing attention to their physical similarities. Ga Jiarg dismissing these as imagination might be similar to how Al's movie references relate to the abyss.

Speaking of, I want to emphasize that I really do believe that the "Genesis" in the title marks the beginnings of the Samaarians. However, at the same time, I still believe that they're actually the descendants of Saviorites, or, at least, their genetics.

I'm getting ahead of myself as I've already veered of topic. For today, all you need to know is that Xenoblade Genesis marks the clarification of a paradox that'll change the universe.

There’s a very good reason why they combined “Vessel” and “Samurai/Knight” into one word or kanji’s. As I said before, this game has ties to the themes of legacy and family. A samurai held many diplomatic responsibilities and had high expectations for their own family relations. Honor was what every Samurai strives for.

Look no further than the name of the academy where a Vesselai undergoes training: Leukos. Others have pointed out that it’s a play-off of the Greek word “Leucus”, meaning white or brilliance. While another definition could be a sign that the name is based off of “Leukocytes”, the name of white blood cells.

I’d wager that it’s a play-off of both meanings. Vesselai use their animus factor to stave off the infection of Anima rampage, while also signifying that their academy is considered a beacon of hope for the world in strengthening the Vesselai. Academics, combat, and even making strategic alliances are all key elements to both this school and the samurai that once governed Japan.

Of course, you gotta have the stand-in for the Shogun. The stance on the shogun has varied many times over the years, and dare not butcher Japanese history but, currently, it’s considered to mean that they’re the head of the country and leader of the samurai. He tells you to go somewhere? You go. He tells you to kill someone? You kill. All for the sake of honor. Of course, it seems that some characters have an issue with this notions; given how the boy comments that the victims Vesselai kill most certainly have qualms about it.

Perhaps the holographic man was/is the “Shogun” of Anshar; projecting himself and going across different sections of the world to establish order, rules and traditions for different villages and Vesselai families.

Legacy and traditions can be a burden, but it’s not inherently a bad thing. In fact, on person to person basis, traditions can greatly boost the person who initiates it. They don’t know who started it or how it came to be, but they honor tradition and legacy as much as they can as it gives meaning to them.

For example, Anima may be the basis of the world, but Anima rampage is still an issue. Yet despite this phenomenon, Vesselai and other citizens of Anshar rely on Anima to live day to day lives and keep themselves sustained. As far as they know, Anima will never go away, and so they make the best of it.

I managed to piece together two scenes from the Genesis trailer that were seemingly split up in the trailer. I think I managed to put them in chronological order to better illustrate what I’m saying here.

The maiden girl is performing a ritual of sorts and using Anima to put on a show. Whether it’s to express her own cultural heritage or a ritual for Vesselai that just entered the academy, I couldn’t tell you. What I do know is that it involves a form of “return” of Anima back to the six suns that sustain the world. It’s a safe assumption, given how the two scenes have the camera pan back up to the blue suns as the center focus.

Anyway, this “return” of Anima might’ve started as a way for their ancestors, the Saviorites/Samaarians, to manage the radiation the Anima relic was giving off; reducing Anima rampage incidents throughout the world. Over time, much like words and phrases, these procedures became religion and devotion. Now it’s seen as a beautiful showcase of the maiden girls’ faith and her love for Anshar and its inhabitants.

Although the original meaning is lost to time and buried in shadows, it’s because of tradition that it’s persevered and lived on to inspire people who believe in them for one reason or another.

I want to take a break for theory discussion and instead focus on thematic connection.

The development name for Xenoblade Genesis is “Project Legacy”. I’m sure it’s a double meaning for the devs since this is a jumping off point for such a comeback for the Xeno-series, and honoring what came before.

If it really is an Anima Relic, it’s most certainly an instrument of past technological progress, whether it’s of Samaarian or Saviorite origin. Sure, it’s causing anima rage within Anshar, but that’s because of the lack of Animus, not because the device is “sinister”. You can’t just leave it alone, nor can you destroy it with a clear conscience. It’s a legacy of cultural heritage from the past that the world has to choose what to do with it.

The other meaning might have to relate to the other characters and how their nobility status affects them. It can’t be easy being the “mascot” Vesselai of the family. Trying your best to maintain your family’s reputation and image in a world that both heavily relies on it and most definitely abuses it.

For example, we don’t know much about the girl with the purple hair tips. However, based on the trailer, she’s pinning for the top. She’s desperate for either family approval or keeping her status intact. Although we don’t hear dialogue, I can read her facial expression and the characters’ position. The blonde boy is goading her and trying to demean her identity in some way, shape and form. Whether that conversation is before or after her fight, to later be beaten by Eleanor, a “Backwater Nobel”, so early in the story is surely going to sting.

Speaking of Eleanor, she’s in quite the predicament herself. Her brother is either dead or crippled, most likely part of why Eleanor is considered a backwater Nobel, and inherited the family blade that once belonged to him. The story starts with her making an affirmation to do him proud and heads to Leukos to begin training for her role as a Vesselai. She has a lot of work to do to honor the legacy of her family.

The Anima factor is active and sustaining. However, that doesn't exactly mean that all is well.

In the trailer, a rhino-like creature takes charge at the maiden girl, and you can see red lightning and aura around him, indicating that there's an over abundance of anima within the animal. Beasts on Anshar can take in too much Anima and lose control.

The yellow sun or, as I suspect, the Anima relic, acts like the fog king. Much like the rhino creature, the beasts in Future Connected have black lightning surrounding them and purple aura. Without an Animus to regulate the world in the same way, it only perpetually exudes anima and slowly corrupts the beasts.

My guess is that the blue suns are partly, if not entirely, concentrated balls of ether created by Anshars' ancestors, the saviorites, as a dampening field. Much like the Telethia with the fog rift, the five suns consistently orbit the anima relic to lessen its effects on the land and the descendents. Thanks to this, a build up of Anima is an occurrence that is "spotty" at worst, and rare at best. Of course, this means that breaking the blue suns' ether field will propagate the Anima virus.

Much like the Animus discussion, I have to go into what Perfect Works and Xenogears established

Like Animus, Anima was also apart of the Kadomony computer. Only difference is that they aren't as abundant as Animus, as there're only 12 anima relics. The general indicator of those who have anima alignment are those who have a large animus factor due to genetics. Once you align with an anima relic in-game, you power up a gear, or mech, that correlates to the anima relic it's assigned to; transforming them into Omnigears.

However, a major change from Xenogears has occured. Based on the trailer’s beginning, we can confirm that everyone has a default anima alignment. Because of how the world was constructed, which we’ll get to later, the presence of anima is active and real. Meaning that the roles of animus and anima have been reversed in this story since being a Vesselai (Animus factor) is a rare trait.

There's a soft red glow that is radiated from the Anima Crystone once it’s finished processing in Eleanor's blade. Since anima is portrayed as red in this franchise, it might be a safe indicator and supporter of the argument that her ability to manipulate anima has improved thanks to the additional Animus factor amplifying her abilities as a Vesselai.

When a Vesselai uses their power, they have an abundance of Animus exuding from themselves. However, underneath that, a veil of red light can be seen. Another indication that anima acts as the basis of a person’s makeup within Anshar.

I have reason to believe that, based on how anima is structured in this trailer, that an anima relic is specifically at work within the sun. There's a red aura exuding from the sun towards the end of the trailer. It's brimming with anima and, as it "warms" Anshar, its both changing and terraforming the world with it. This goes hand in hand with an earlier theory of mine that each ship in Project Exodus in Future redeemed has an anima relic as its engine, and one of the colony ships crashlands on a planet and affects the life on it.

In order to explain how the citizens of Anshar are the descendants of the saviorites, let's start at the beginning.

Saviorites weren't always a factor in Klaus' world. In fact, most of human history remains intact for each xeno-series universe until the discovery of the Zohar/Conduit is established. Then, it's discovered that the zohar has a hand in influencing history dynamics and, surprisingly, even evolutionary charts. I won't fully touch Perfect Works, but the Xenoblade titles themselves show that the Conduit and the objects influenced by it propell, speed up and preserve evolution and genetics by a large margin.

What does this have to do with Saviorites? Well, they're a minority class within Klaus' society, and minority groups consist of religious and/or physical differences within a society. They faced heavy discrimination to the point where the entire world and coalition governemnt is appalled by the human rights protection bill introduced to them.

Again, It stands to reason that the discovery of the conduit shook up the cultural and genetic boundaries of Klaus' universe. Xenosaga featured a blinding light shooting up to the heavens and dispelling rain across the world after its rediscovery; showing that it can change and affected the environment its in. Perhaps a similar event occured in the xenoblade continuity where discovering the Conduit granted different people physical and spiritual changes world; such as the ability to use ether or giving them elf ears.

The Saviorite minorities gaining physical constitution or abilities akin to the samaarians might be an awakening of the samaarian genes within themselves due to the discovery of the conduit. If enough people undergo an awakening. After the emergence, differences lead to fear and discrimination. After discrimination, more scrutiny follows. More scrutiny equals stripping them of their civil rights to follow more rules. Fear of isolation of scrutiny stokes conflict and produces faith in [the Conduit]. Conflict alongside faith leads to destruction...

Fear robs us of reason. Out of fear we commit terrible atrocities...and call them acts of self-preservation. -Dunban, Xenoblade Chronicles

Okay, so all magic eventually goes back to Everywhen (save for the Power of Hope). All gods die and go to Everywhen as well. What could be the end goal for Betsge and Sekhmet?

I remembered this conversation with Kratos Mimir and Freya. Kratos used the powers and abilities of the fates to alter his own fate and timeline. Quite literally time traveling and creating a paradox of sorts.

The fates are surely dead and all the magic of Greece, including the fates’ magic, has all returned to Everywhen. It should be inaccessible to everyone who’s alive, but not to those whore dead.

If the stories of Sekhmet and Begtse death are accurate to the myth, they aren’t satisfied with just conquering Everywhen. They could also use the fates’ magic to alter their own previous life’s and the lands that they’re in.

Betsge dying to Buddhism? He’ll make it so it never spreads in the first place. Sekhmet dying to the other gods? She’ll make it so that she never died in the first place and uproots the Egyptian pantheon hierarchy.

And it doesn’t stop there. Ariel confirmed in the GameStop interview that Faye’s magic is super charged in that realm. However, that same principle may apply to all magic there as well.

If the fates’ magic is also pushed further by the realm, Sekhmet and Betsge can and would most definitely use it to change all the fates in each realm; making it so that they’re at the top of all pantheons that exists.