[Last updated 2024.09.08]
The untold parts of the larger story
At the end of Xenogears we learn that it was only "Episode V" out of at least five episodes, revealing the closing message: XENOGEARS Episode V - THE END. We are thus left with the implication that there is more of the story to be told. In the sourcebook for the game, Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, creator Tetsuya Takahashi specifies that the Xenogears universe consists of six whole episodes, but that it can more appropriately be described as consisting of three broader episodes, with the four middle episodes (Episode II, III, IV, and V) making up just one part of these three broader episodes (the part that became the game).
He singles out Episode I and Episode VI from the smaller middle episodes and appears to put each of those two on an equal scale to the entirety of the 10,000 year long history that spans the world of the middle episodes. He also says that it is Episode I and Episode VI in particular that he would like his audience to focus on next after playing the game, rather than more of Episode II, III and IV.
"The world of Xenogears can be divided into three episodes, broadly speaking. The first takes place roughly 5000 years into the future from our present real-life era, a story playing out in the vastness of outer space. The second is the content of the game itself, the story of the world inhabited by Fei and his friends. It follows that the third would be the story of what comes after that.
Within that framework, the second episode can be further broken up into four smaller sub-episodes. We originally intended to release these sub-episodes taking place in the various time periods of the second episode in several completely different forms, such as a simulation game, a novelization and so on, but in the end we crammed all of it into a single game. That means the game Xenogears consists of Episodes IV and V mixed in with bits and pieces from Episodes II and III.
The result of this, then, is that the unreleased Episodes I and VI become the main points of interest, or rather, they become what I'd very much like you all to focus on. What will happen regarding these Episodes depends on how circumstances unfold, I suppose. To help nudge these circumstances and possibilities in a more favorable direction, I'd like you all to please try wishing upon the Zohar."
- Tetsuya Takahashi (Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, Director's Comment, page 3)
Since we have not gotten an Episode I (and ignoring the Xenosaga series for a moment), nor an Episode VI, I would like to end this story analysis for Xenogears by speculating a bit on these two "broader episodes" that were never told. And I would like to do so by focusing on some of the remaining mysteries that stretches before and beyond the episode II to V portion of the story. Also, to clarify, Episode II is the genesis era of Cain and Abel, Episode III is the time of Kim and the Zeboim civilization, and Episode IV is the Solaris War 500 years before the start of the game.
How did the first Elly, in the first year, have a pendant?
The first mystery that I would like to point out is the unexplained origin of the cross Elly is seen wearing in Fei's flashback from when Abel first met Elly not long after the Eldridge crash. While this may seem like a mystery that belongs to Episode II, there is a high probability that the cross came from the civilization in outer space, and thus has an origin further back in time. Not only that, but icons of the two angel statues can also be found inside the Fort Jasper (which was one of the Eldridge's defense cannons) and inside Deus' Merkabah, which suggests the statues too may have their origin in outer space. But one could explain away the statues as being put in Fort Jasper by Roni, and in Merkabah by Krelian (both to honor Sophia's religion). The cross, on the other hand, is not explained away that easily.
Was the cross, and those clothes she wears, something the first Elly found among wreckage from parts of the Eldridge space vessel? Or something she made herself? Either way, considering pretty much nothing but remaining material from the Eldridge could have been utilized to make such clothes and jewelry in those early days, the basic material must have been onboard the Eldridge. The timeline in Xenogears: Perfect Works states that Abel met Elly the very first year of the crash (the reason the Gazel elders appear to be already a few years old in that flashback is because they were created directly from the mysterious bioelement 'Animus' inside Kadmoni by the original Mother, they were not born from her womb like infants), so there would not have been enough time to develop neither the skills, nor the spiritual purpose, to create such a symbolic cross out of basically nothing.
If there was a spiritual purpose in Elly's psychology even from the moment she split off from the original Mother, then that purpose must be related to the 'Mother's will' she was given by the Wave Existence. But does this will of a mother for Abel also involve establishing a religion, not just for Abel, but for all humans? If so, why? And would this have some bearing on the intended Episode VI? The cross is supposed to represent "light" and has the shape of the light shining down from the Higher Dimension seen during the ending sequence, and this imagery was likely intentional.
* Nisan Crest
A religious symbol, its motif is that of -Light- and many are used to decorate holy places in sanctuaries.
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (page 30)
Of course, the Nisan Crest could have been invented during Episode IV, and the cross that the first Elly wore could easily be retconned into a slightly different cross recovered from debris from the Eldridge space vessel, since we do not see it very clearly (the animation artists screwed up a lot of the characters' designs). But that does not explain why she would wear a religious cross to begin with. I think there is more to it, considering this is a six episode story spanning thousands of years.
Some have rationalized away this peculiar detail by suggesting that in Fei's first flashback, showing this scene, the memory is actually two memories bluring together events from two different eras, so that the figure of Elly is actually a memory of Sophia that bleeds into his early memory of being Abel. But narrative wise and emotionally for the character it makes more sense for Fei to remember the very first time he met Elly upon meeting her again in the present life for the first time. That is what triggered this particular memory, so a memory of Sophia (whom he knew since childhood in that life) does not really belong there. There are also no other instances where Fei's or Elly's past life memories blur together events from different eras at the same time. And the idea that the first Elly was similar to Sophia is actually implied in Perfect Works, in Emperor Cain's profile section, stating that: "Also, Elhaym who worked with Abel [against Cain] may have had the same type of influence as Sophia."
A common theme you will notice with many Xenogears fans in general is that they have a tendency to rationalize away or simplify a lot of the mysteries and unknowns in order to have the story make sense to them and feel complete in their minds, then often clinging to their simplified ideas as a result with difficulty changing interpretation; whereas the author himself (Takahashi) has more a tendency to complexify the mysteries so as to expand the story into further episodes and explore more facets of the universe he created. This is often why fans end up being wrong in their theories as they fail to understand how the author thinks and what he seemed to be interested in exploring. For that reason I try not to be too quick to rationalize away mysteries and various other unknowns, instead approaching them as things Takahashi may have been interested in exploring further.
What were the Diabolos?
Another mystery is the nature and origin of the 'Army of Diabolos' that Lacan, after he turned into Grahf, used to destroy the world with towards the end of the Solaris War. Similar to the previous mystery, this may seem like it belongs to the middle episodes, specifically Episode IV. But, since Xenogears: Perfect Works states that the Diabolos were Deus' prototype mobile units, they must have existed since Episode I.
9501 - [...] Lacan, now Graf, awakens the Diabolos Corps (Deus's prototype mobile unit) and lays waste to the surface, wiping out 96% of humanity. The remaining humans, which include Roni, band together to combat the Diabolos. They are able to shut down Original Weltall, the nucleus of the unit, thus avoiding total annihilation, though Rene Fatima dies protecting his older brother during the battle. Following this, Graf disappears.
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (Razael's translation)
I cited Razael's translation here, since UltimateGraphics made a clumsy mistake in his translation with the line "Having become the core, Original Weltall is placed in suspended animation, barely escaping destruction." The text does not say that Original Weltall was placed in suspended animation, and it is in contradiction with three other translators, including one I am consulting with.
The in-game dialogue uses "Army of Diabolos" instead of "Diabolos Corps." I guess the intent is simply to illustrate that Diabolos is a large formation of weapons working together, but it makes them out to sound more like military troops than the other terminal weapons such as Omnigears or the Angels. "Gebler Special Corps" was similarly translated officially as Gebler Special Forces, so "Diabolos Army" or "Diabolos Forces" I think would be the best translation. However, in the game the Shevat elders describe them as "angels of death" which is a peculiar description that makes one think they were not typical machines: "Those angels of death, utterly unrivaled, with no fear or mercy..."
There has been a lot of discussion regarding just what these things were, but it seems no design was ever established by the developers. The three most common theories, that they were either Seraph Angels, Deus' four pillars (from the final battle), or an army of O.R. Weltalls, have all been proven false because of the description in Perfect Works that the Diabolos did not have the ability of Ether. The theory that Diabolos were an army of Original Weltall units was probably the most interesting one, but it came about due to an incomplete and rough early translation of O.R. Weltall's profile in the book, which stated that it was a defense terminal for Deus. However, this description was directed at Omnigears in general, and Perfect Works states that O.R. Weltall was the result of the fusion between Lacan's Gear and the Anima Naphtali. The fact that the Diabolos could not use Ether also sound strange if they were machines, since machines are usually dependent on their pilot for Ether abilities, not using Ether in isolation.
* The reason for activating the Diabolos
To Myyah, Deus's resurrection is nothing more than a means to an end, that being the battle to come following its resurrection. In other words, her real objective is the destruction of all hostile entities throughout outer space. The Gazel Ministry is aware of this fact, but is only concerned with becoming one with Deus (God). Myyah therefore seeks the complete resurrection of Deus for this purpose, and resurrects the Diabolos Corps.
Myyah is very interested in the ether abilities possessed by humans like Lacan, Sophia and Roni, the biggest reason for this being the fact that the Diabolos does not wield such abilities. She reasoned that if the Corps was able to control ether, she should theoretically be able to enact a more complete resurrection. Anticipating another advancement in humanity's evolution, she resets it through the Diabolos. As a result, only those humans with advanced ether abilities survive, and humanity, which will serve as parts for Deus, reaches its final stage of evolution.
However, there was another reason behind resurrecting the Diabolos - to carry out a simulation of the coming battle. The Diabolos is Deus's prototype mobile unit, having been developed over 10,000 years ago. What Myyah wanted to do was determine whether or not it could participate in the coming battle throughout outer space. The Gazel Ministry, seeking unification with God, was attempting to activate the Goetia Key during this time, and the reason the Diabolos attacked not only the surface but Solaris as well was to try to prevent the Key from becoming active.
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (Razael's translation)
Here I used Razael's translation again, since UltimateGraphics has an apparent error when translating that passage: "For Miang, the resurrection of Deus is all there is, not what is in store in the coming battle after the resurrection" This is contradictory, since Miang is using Diabolos to simulate the coming battle, thus she must be concerned with that too.
"That day, 500 years ago, that woman was definitely here... There was no other alternative but to be a captive... We could've won, at the cost of many sacrifices! Only if that traitor hadn't disappeared with the woman!! The escaped woman freed the beast. The beast sucked human blood and ate their flesh... And tore the world apart...!"
- Woman in Shevat prison
It is interesting that an old woman in Shevat's prison refers to the Diabolos Army as "the beast" that "sucked human blood" and "ate their flesh." It almost sounds like some type of vicious Sufal Mass (Wels) creatures. But it could be that the woman is only passing along hearsay and was not around when Diabolos actually attacked, thus not knowing what she is talking about. However, given how most people in Shevat had life extension imposed on them by Krelian, I find this somewhat unlikely. Shevat people generally know what they are talking about. Those descriptions, as well as Diabolos not having Ether abilities, seems to point towards some kind of organism, while descriptions of Diabolos being "activated" (or developed) over 10,000 years ago, and being "revived," gives more an impression of them being machines.
Anyway, it seems that there has been three stages of Deus' defense forces: The first being Diabolos (first stage / prototype); the second being Omnigears (I am still a little unclear on how these fit in between the Diabolos and the Angels since Deus needs the Anima Vessels for itself); and the third being the Angels that seem to come about as a result of Miang's initiative that was not in the original programming for Deus when developed over 10,000 years ago since it is unlikely that humans were used as parts for Deus originally.
* Myyah's ulterior motives
Myyah has judged, once again, the humans of this era to be inadequate as parts for Deus' resurrection. She schemes to reset mankind and their civilization. As a result of Contact Lacan, lacking Elehayym's existence, being made to contact Zohar, the rampaging power transformed Lacan into Grahf, who guided the world towards destruction. Also, included within this was the purpose of examining the difference in ability that existed between the "Diabolos" and humanity. The "Diabolos" were designed and manufactured more than 10,000 years ago, and their capability to defy the predicted hostile power (assuming the continuance of the Interstellar War) after Deus' resurrection was very much into question. Myyah, who had noticed that humans were endowed with special abilities as Deus' markers (Ether), intended to determine both parties' ability for combat via pitting them against each other. As a result, humans achieved victory, with only a few of them having survived. These were those who were particularly superior at using their special ability as markers.
Myyah, in order to awaken Deus as an even more perfect "weapon", desired to "cull" humanity. As a result, the "Aeons" [Angels] given birth through Deus' resurrection would be furnished with the marker special abilities of their components, humans. [...]
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (translation by trexalfa)
It is interesting that it says that Diabolos were "designed and manufactured more than 10,000 years ago" when they have only been on the planet for 9500 years at that point. Does that mean the Diabolos were created in the T.C. 4200s or earlier, or did Takahashi mean 10,000 years from the present day even though he was describing events in Episode IV? Probably the latter, since he has seemingly made clumsy mistakes like that before. Also, if the Diabolos were biological weapons, they would have been ineffective as weapons fighting in outer space.
The other interesting part is this bit: the "Aeons" [Angels] given birth through Deus' resurrection would be furnished with the marker special abilities of their components, humans.
That means the Diabolos certainly could not have been Angels. Nevertheless, given they were created so long ago, the Diabolos should have appeared in Episode I in some form, even if only towards the end.
What is the origin of Gear technology?
Speaking of machines and weapons, what is the origin of Gears in general? Yes we do see Gears being reinvented during the Zeboim era in old photographs from the time period, but that particular civilization appears to have gotten most of its scientific advancements from the study of the Eldridge culture by examining large parts of its wreckage. The evidence suggests that Gear technology was created by the ancient civilization from outer space, since Citan makes a comment during the Gate 2 portion of the narrative, saying: "The Babel and Jasper ruins are from the same civilization. One far more advanced than our own... Do not the two structures seem similar to you? I believe they were both built with Gears and a powerful foe in mind." As we know, both Babel Tower and Fort Jasper are pieces of the Eldridge. It makes sense for such an enormous ship to have been built by giant humanoid machines, such as Gears.
It is also very probable that Gears were stored onboard the Eldridge. Super Dimensional Gear Yggdrasil 4 is another example of a Gear-like machine which, according to Xenogears: Perfect Works, was onboard the Eldridge and thus is from the ancient civilization in outer space. Since Omnigears are created by aligning a Vessel of Anima with an existing Gear and pilot, it is unlikely that Omnigears, at least the ones we see in the game, comes from the Eldridge. The Diabolos, however, could have been a type of Gear-like machines. But regardless, it would make sense in terms of story to include Gears in Episode I considering the title is still Xenogears.
How does reincarnation actually work and what is its relation to the 'Uroborus Ring'?
The term "reincarnation" is only used four times towards the end of the narrative: first by Fei and Margie, who both mentions the rumor that Elly could be a reincarnation of Mother Sophia; and later by Id and Grahf, who both state that Fei's body is the reincarnation of Lacan's physical body. Since both Id and Grahf are characters that are in the know, their words carry enough weight that we can conclude that reincarnation is a process that can occur in the universe of Xenogears. What we don't know for sure is whether this process of transmigration only applies to Fei and Elly due to their contact with the 'Wave Existence', or if it is a broader and more general occurance or law in the universe of Xenogears for all human beings.
The words "soul," "spirit," and "consciousness" are also used a few times in the narrative. Nikolai says that "I may have lost my body, but my spirit is within Seibzehn, no with you, Maria." Id explains that "Lacan's spirit continued living by possessing others." Citan says, "Zohar senses the human consciousness and incarnates the -Seraphs-" and "I believe that those angels are incarnations of the spirits of people... ...The people who have been absorbed by Deus to become parts of it."
Kim uses the phrases "this is the new spirit vessel that will break the curse" and "Oh vessel for a new soul" when referring to the artificial life-form Emeralda. Citan refers to the Gazel Ministry as "Having neither flesh nor souls they are just binary numbers." Fei and Elly both reflect, "That long, long memory of a dream... Perhaps it was the memory of my soul..." Grahf says he will take Fei's "soul" and draw its power out to the limit, and Krelian explains the origin of the cosmos as follows: "Before the beginning of the universe, in the undulating waves of the higher dimension, all things were one. It was the waves spilling out from there that created this four-dimensional universe of ours. 'Humankind' and the 'Souls of Humankind' that were born from there, are merely leftovers of those spilled waves."
While Id and Grahf confirms that the spirit is a thing that can jump from one body to another (albeit through some power of the Wave Existence), and we can conclude that a spirit or soul would not be unique to Lacan, the most interesting statement to me is the one spoken by Krelian where he not only mentions the "souls" of humankind but also seemingly separates humankind and the 'souls of humankind' into two distinct categories almost. Obviously, if a person such as Lacan can have a disembodied spirit of desire that can intentionally chose to jump from one human body to another, then that means the visible flesh of humans and the less visible spirit or soul are two different phenomena. They are related, but still different enough that a human consciousness is not entirely dependent on or fixed to one single body of flesh in order to exist in the world.
So, if a human consciousness can be extracted from the body, either by some power of the Wave Existence, or by phenomena alteration to become a partly visible angel weapon for Deus, then it makes sense that after the body dies, regardless, the soul or consciousness does not necessarily cease to exist but remains somewhere until it gets reused for a newly born person. Remember what Fei says when recalling the long dream (memory) of his soul:
A vast nebulous... With no boundaries...
An emptiness equivalent to my own existence...
I dreamt such a dream...
A long... Never-ending, dream...
[...]
That long, long memory of a dream... Perhaps it was the memory of my soul...
This is clearly a reference to reincarnation. A lot of people misunderstand Xenogears' use of reincarnation and assumes that it is only Fei and Elly who are being reincarnated, and sometimes they think it is not even reincarnation but simply genetic memories. However, here we learn that something like a vast nebulous soul collective appears to be a resting place in between lives, implied by the line "A vast nebulous... With no boundaries...," while "An emptiness equivalent to my own existence..." would refer to Fei's incarnated form in flesh when alive in the physical world. The translation here is accurate as well. Furthermore, Xenogears: Perfect Works has a chart that also uses the words "soul" and "reincarnation" to describe Fei's process of incarnation rather than mere genetic memories. The diagram on page 161 specifically says Lacan's spirit reincarnated in Fei. There is no mention of introns or passing along memories to their children, which would not make sense since Elly always dies before she even has any children.
In fact, Fei's line stating that "we can leave behind memories to be inherited by our descendants" does not have the word "descendants" in the original script. He simply says that "bequeathing memories was possible" in Japanese, as examined in part 3 of this story analysis. Similarly, Id's line about himself and Fei being "descendants" of Lacan is a translation error. And to summarize, the use of the phrase "existing through multiple generations" for people who do not mutate refers to multiple incarnations given the precise context of the phrase which began with the Gazel Ministry's speculation about the Contact not mutating due to "recurring through the ages / composed of multiple generations" (using the same phrase in Japanese) before the key was even used. In other words, the humans who escaped mutation (including the entire main party) did so due to existing through multiple incarnations or identities, suggesting not only reincarnation but also a higher frequency of reincarnation than those humans who do end up mutating.
Xenogears: Perfect Works only states that the Wave Existence's influence is responsible for Fei and Elly retaining their memories, it does not state that the same influence or power is what causes them to reincarnate in the first place. Example from page 159: "Due to the influence of the Wave Existence, the Contact Fei carried memories from previous lives after being reincarnated." So the implication is that every human soul can potentially reincarnate, especially if their spirits can also be turned into Angels, and the entry on Uroborus in Perfect Works page 171 mentions Jung's idea of a Collective Unconscious, an idea that could be said to tie people's consciousnesses together beyond the physical world. Such a concept, and more situations involving reincarnation, could potentially have been explored in Episode I and Episode VI. The storytelling potential of those episodes would be severely limited if only humans who make contact with the Wave Existence can reincarnate.
But what is clearly established is that Fei and Elly appear to be unique in that not only their souls reincarnate but also their bodies - their physical attributes - regardless of the genetics of their parents in any given life. This phenomena, along with the capacity to store memories in their introns, is seemingly explained as being caused by some power of the Wave Existence. We must therefore conclude that while Fei and Elly's memories are stored in their introns while in the flesh, those memories do not emerge there due to genetic lineage but rather through some other, spiritual or supernatural, means. Fei refers to his memories as "information" that is "affixed" to him by some of the power of the Wave Existence; meaning his and Elly's memories get affixed to their disembodied souls when their previous bodies die and brings this information with their souls into a new flesh, which then forms an exact replica of their previous bodies and also provides them with access to their previous memories when they reach a certain age. I think this is the only explanation that makes sense, and, interestingly, the same would have to be the case for Miang.
This brings us to the phenomena of the 'Uroborus Ring' that Krelian discovers in Elly's introns. Is the Uroborus Ring an expression of this data fixed to Fei's, Elly's, and Miang's souls? Krelian specifies that the Uroborus Ring is what Elly's "genetic exon looked like before replacement." The phrase "confirming exon replacement" was said in the opening movie, said by one of the female operators on the Eldridge, and Xenogears: Perfect Works clarifies that this refers to the original Elhaym awakening into Miang by severing the Uroborus Ring. But if the process of exon replacement could be observed by the crew of the Eldridge then they must have had technology sufficiently advanced to read intron information and know what they were looking for. Given what we later learn, that original Elhaym was formed by the Wave Existence fairly recently at that point, the process of a biological human female of unknown origin having alterations in super obscure information that is not supposed to exist (according to Krelian) is a rather remarkable detail for the crew of the Eldridge to keep track of in realtime as it is happening.
Given that Zeboim's culture could develop nanomachines sufficiently advanced to unlock intron information, and unlock it easily (according to Krelian), and given that Zeboim developed their science by examining the Eldridge culture, the crew onboard the ship probably did have technology able to keep track of intron information. So then the remaining question is, why was this science so closely tied to Deus? We are talking about information likely emerging from the soul of a living entity, even if the people of that era may not have been aware of it. I suppose the crew could have kept track of exon replacements for other reasons, since we see a double-helix DNA strain but not an Uroborus Ring on the data screen. But whatever those reasons were, they must have been related to the brain and consciousness of Deus awakening somehow, since that's what they were clearly concerned about. So, at the very least, they would be aware that the awakening of Deus can be confirmed through observing exon replacement in the DNA of the central biological component (Original Elhaym).
Krelian: "Although the nanomachines up until now could recombine DNA... they couldn't uncover any information in the intron which are located in the replacements of the double helix. However, the newer nanomachines easily discovered this data. Data that originally 'should not have existed'.
'Intron' is a sequence in the DNA that does not code for anything, and which is initially copied into RNA but is later cut out of the final RNA transcript. In other words, introns are the non-coding portions of genes that are found between coding exons. Sequences from introns are spliced out before the gene message is translated. So, technically, when Krelian says "This is what your genetic exon looked like before replacement..." He is talking about this information that should have been spliced out, but is somehow retained. "This is the conceptualized form of the intron which carries information that isn't supposed to exist. Observe. This is the Urobolus Ring which contains 'intron information'...
So, it seems the 'Urobolus Ring' is what retains this 'intron information'. But it is unclear if this is what maintains the Contact and the Antitype's forms and ancient memories from one life to another since Krelian connects the Uroborus Ring to Miang's factor, which originates from Deus rather than the Wave Existence. Takahashi did not explain the thing about intron information further in Xenogears: Perfect Works. In fact, 'intron' is seemingly only mentioned once in the book, in a paragraph on Miang and the Uroborus Ring:
The Uroborus Ring is written into Elly's intron information. When this ring is connected, she is in a non-awakened state, but when the ring is severed, she awakens into Miang. The "Uroborus Ring" symbolizes the process of establishing an Ego, and another term that signifies nearly the same idea as this is the "Great Mother". As the Great Mother, Miang obstructs the formation of a person's Ego. A person who has been allowed to develop a conscious world (Ego) begins to act according to his own wishes. This is nothing but a hindrance to Miang's goal of leading people to a perfectly complete body. Therefore, Miang became the Great Mother, and eradicated any civilization too advanced (people with a sense of self).
[...]
Uroborus Ring
The "Uroborus" refers to the snake that devours its own tail. That image, of something feeding itself, psychologically indicates the state devoid of conflict before an Ego is established-- the Collective Unconscious. It is a state in early childhood where a person cannot yet discern things himself, where there is no conflicting difference between reality and his sense of self. Once the Ego forms, it produces a necessity to sever this circle in order to break away from the unconscious. This is the establishment of one's own conscious world. The basis on which to discern things is born, and there begins to be conflict towards reality that goes beyond that basis of discernment.
"Great Mother" is a name that symbolizes a mother who hinders her child's process of breaking away from this circle (from developing an Ego).
- Xenogears: Perfect Works ~The Real Thing~ (page 171)
If we take this statement from Perfect Works at face value, then it would mean that all human beings have an Uroborus Ring in either a connected or severed condition in their intron information, depending on the extent they have developed an Ego. But if that was the case, then how would the image of the Uroborus clue Krelian in that Elly is specifically the Antitype? If the Uroborus is unique to Elly's intron information, then it would not explain how any other woman can awaken into Miang. Krelian leaves little doubt that the Uroborus Ring is tied specifically to Elly and Miang's combined existence in the original Japanese script:
Karellen: "That's right. This is the empty part of your genes, prior to exon replacement... An abstraction based on an analysis of [your] introns, where information normally should not exist. Look now, at this ringed structure. This is what is known as the Ring of Ouroboros; intron information that only exists for 'certain special individuals.' The Ouroboros... If this abstractional snake, that which can be compared to the grand mother, were to release its tail from its own bite, and stand upright... What would happen? Does that form not pique your curiosity?"
Perhaps the fact that the ring is still connected rather than severed is what made Krelian conclude Elly is the Antitype, but if that's the case, does that mean Elly does not have an Ego and is unique in that respect? Even Miang must have an Ego if she awakens when the ring is severed. The idea that the Uroborus Ring only exists in 'certain people' or 'certain special individuals' (depending on translation) seems contradictory though, but I assume he is talking about the various incarnations of the Antitype throughout time as being these 'certain special individuals'.
As examined previously; Krelian's words in the Path of Sephirot, as well as the curious manifestations of 'Seraph Angels' as pointed out by Citan in the script, does introduce us to the concept of "Souls" in the story by the end of the narrative. Making this argument even more compelling is the appearance of the final boss, which is named 'Uroborus' in the game. The final boss seems to be the spirit form of Miang, since it has the appearance of a translucent, purple haired woman with angelic wings, and a serpent body that is severed, not connected in a circle. If this entity is only the manifestation of a gene, why would Krelian refer to it as "God" before the fight and why does it attack Fei like a conscious entity? But if Miang also has a spirit form, and thus also the capacity for reincarnation, then what is this being's origin? Well, that brings us to the next big remaining mystery...
What is the origin of Miang?
As a prequel, Episode I would need to portray the development of Deus. This means explaining, to some extent, the origin of Miang. Does Miang have her origin in a computer program, an artificial intelligence, or a living consciousness? What attributes did Miang have before Deus' connection with the Wave Existence, and what did she gain from that influence?
Fei: "[...] Elly and I... and Miang... are different. Due to our connection with the 'Wave Existence'... That is, due to Zohar's ability to change possible phenomena, we can clearly store data in our introns. In other words, we can leave behind memories [...]"
Similar to Grahf, it seems that Miang gained the feature to switch bodies while retaining her memories, albeit in a more rigid form where she did not have full control of the process, and thus could not chose on her own when to switch bodies or with whom. But this still leaves us with the same issue as when we examined the process through which the memories of the Contact and the Antitype were transmitted. Elly was not a direct descendant of Miang 0998 who was struck down by Ramus, so, when Miang's memories are transferred to Elly immediately afterwards, the transfer must be caused by some supernatural means - a soul-transfer, almost. However, having a computer program or artificial intelligence be transferred at the level of the human soul or human consciousness seems rather incredible, and would basically make it the same phenomena as a human soul or consciousness regardless.
We can conclude that Miang is, in a way, the personality of Deus. "Deus" is merely the collective name for this weapon and its parts, not its personality or core character. This is evident from the charts in Xenogears: Perfect Works which attributes the "intelligence" and "intent" of the weapon Deus to come from Alpha-1, 'Persona' - the main element originally found in Kadmoni. It is from this element that both Miang Hawwa and Elhaym originated, but we know that Elhaym is a will added by the Wave Existence and was not a part of Deus originally. This leaves Miang as the "brain," "program," "intelligence," or "consciousness" of Deus. This is further established when Perfect Works states that Miang, once fused with Deus, proceeds to control the resurrected Deus:
"When Deus is able to be completely resurrected, the role of Miang as supplement is finished. And so, the main body of Elehaym having awakened as Miang, and fused with Deus (returning as main element to Kadmoni), proceeds to control the resurrected Deus."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (page 170)
(Just a quick note here, since I have confirmed this translation is pretty accurate. Elly as Miang does not return to Kadmoni, and Kadmoni does not return to the awakened Deus. Kadmoni is the structure that rests at the top of a hill in the last shot of the ending, the place in which the original mother returned to rest as she died. I think it would make more sense for it to say "returning as main element of or from Kadmoni," since Miang, Elly, the Animus and the Anima already are the necessary elements of Kadmoni. But as I've pointed out before, these sourcebooks sometimes make clumsy mistakes. Though I guess it is possible that a new Kadmoni could have evolved within Deus' new form somehow.)
So how did the personality of Deus, its sentience, evolve to the level of human consciousness? How did those ancient humans create the Uroborus information in obscure intron information, and why? Or was it always connected to the spirit realm - the supernatural - from the beginning? Deus is certainly no ordinary weapon, and its dependence on and connection to human or human-like genetics is a highly peculiar feature for an interstellar invasion weapon supposedly designed to put an end to an interstellar war.
Page 70 of Perfect Works describes Deus as a "living weapon" intended to consume living things while destroying targeted planets with the intention of having it grow and sustain itself this way. Though it is unclear if this was the intent by its creators or if this refers to the evolved form of the present Deus we see in the game. But since it was created as a living weapon in the first place, it is likely that this was the purpose of its operation all along.
So, if Deus is so closely connected to the life force of living things, especially human beings, while still being in large part an artificial creation, does it not make sense that an artificial intelligence sophisticated enough to resemble a living entity also requires living parts? But if the artificial intelligence requires living parts to function as a sentient being, then is it really all that different from a life form that could potentially have a consciousness or even a soul? If we examine the personality of Miang during the course of the narrative, we find that she acts really strange for a mere "program." As is shown, she perfectly understands and is capable of using and manipulating emotions and empathy to achieve her goals, and case studies like Fei and Ramsus show that she is prone to doing so in a way that is downright sadistic.
If you examine her actions, you will notice that she seems to have two different "modes" : one is the cold and calculating Miang that barely seems to have emotions; and the other is a charming and caring Miang that knows how to be social, protective and sometimes manipulative in a feminine way. An example of the former is when she is doing the experiments on Fei, almost letting Fei die before protecting him, shooting Fei with a gun, and talking about how she is only "programmed"; while examples of the latter is when she acts "normal" in front of people. Even when Miang laughs while killing Elly's father as Executioner or laughs to herself on the bridge of Ramsus' ship when the 'Demon of Elru' shows up, she seems to be the latter. Because a cold and calculating "program" has no reason to be mean or covertly laugh at things and people.
Her behavior aspect in the latter mode is even consistent with the Enneagram personality classification, in which she displays traits of an unhealthy Type 2 personality. In other words, she occasionally displays psychological characteristics of a human being similar to the other, "real" human characters in the narrative. The following are some relevant quotes on Type 2, as it relates to the personality we see of Miang in the narrative, from the Personality Types book the writers used:
"But if they become unhealthy, Twos deceive themselves about the presence and extent of their aggressive feelings, not recognizing how manipulative and domineering they can be. As we shall see, unhealthy Twos are among the most insidious of the personality types because they are extremely selfish in the name of utter selflessness. They do terrible harm to others while believing that they are completely good.
The essence of the problem is that even average Twos cannot see themselves as they really are, as persons of mixed motives, conflicting feelings, and personal needs which they want to fulfill. Instead, they see themselves only in the most glowing terms, ignoring their negative qualities as they gradually become self-deceptive.
"Many people like the attention of average Twos, and average Twos know it. Their ability to lavish praise and flattery on people is a source of power, particularly over those who are hungry for approval. The approval they give, however, is not without cost.
"They undermine others while presenting themselves as "helpers" who can heal the pain they have subtly caused. They insidiously prick at tender spots with one hand while soothing the hurt with the other; they put you down and then bolster your self-confidence with left-handed compliments; they never let you forget your problems, making your future seem hopeless while promising to remain with you forever; they reopen old wounds, then rush to your side to stitch them up. They become your best friend and, unwittingly, your worst enemy.
"A Two at Eight will probably become physically violent, even murderous. [...] In average persons of this [Two with a Three-wing] subtype, we see elements of competitiveness and the desire for success and prestige mixed with the traits of the Two. [...] If people of this subtype become unhealthy, they can be emotionally devastating to others since they become both manipulative and exploitative, deceptive and self-deceptive, opportunistic and neurotically entitled to get whatever they want from others. Hostility toward others can be extremely strong and all-consuming: beneath their apparent charm lies viciousness."
- Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery (1987)
What stands out as particularly interesting is the part stating that this personality type "cannot see themselves as they really are, as persons of mixed motives, conflicting feelings, and personal needs which they want to fulfill." Miang only refers to herself one time as being programmed to act the way she does, but what if that is part of a self-deception or self-delusion? Maybe that is what she prefers to think, or what she wants others to think, in order to undermine any potential criticism and self-criticism? The idea that Miang has something conflicting or contradictory within her is even touched on in Xenogears: Perfect Works, page 226:
"Having near eternal life, it seems Miang yearns alone for something. This image is suited to Miang. The derivative words in English of her name means 'contradiction', and there is deep meaning behind this."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (page 226)
So even if we ignore the potential Enneagram type classification, Perfect Works still implies that there is more to Miang than her simply being a program encoded into living DNA. The same is actually true for Elly, who is also described using the word "program" in Perfect Works multiple times when describing her origin. In fact, "Elhaym" was the name of the key program inside Alpha-1 of Deus before it was given a will by the Wave Existence. But I don't think we are supposed to view Elly as an artificial intelligence in the narrative. Perfect Works also seems to support the idea that Miang has different modes, such as "supplement," "manager," "weapon," "Great Mother," and "Deus Control Mode." Perhaps the best evidence of this is when Krelian says "Come... It is time for the awakening of the 'true mother'." He says this after Elly has already turned into Miang, which implies there is one more facet of Miang that we have not seen at that point. Yet that is actually the last time we see Miang in the narrative, if we exclude the final boss (the nature of which is left ambiguous).
Miang being somehow compartmentalized into different modes, each with specific and limited awareness (similar to multiple personalities), but caused by the system, would explain why Elly as Miang does not know why Deus must destroy all of human civilization ("Who knows...? Those who have created God will someday be a hindrance. That is why they must be eliminated. I am just programmed to act in this way."). So because she is not the "true Mother" but currently only one of the "modes" controlled by the programs of Miang's intended operation, she is not a complete being. The true Mother, therefore, is possibly not a program, but a genuine consciousness. Although named "Uroborus," the form of the final boss in the game heavily suggests that it is this true Mother, and that Miang's true essence therefore is more like a spirit entity or even a god-like being.
Remember the phrase 'You shall be as gods' from the displays on the Eldridge in the opening movie? Could it even be that Miang uses this biblical phrase when Deus awakens because her consciousness is actually something like a supernatural being that may even have served as the great mother Eve for the original humanity when human beings first appeared on their home planet Earth? If Episode I really is on a scale more or less equivalent to that of the 10,000 year scale of the second main part of the larger story, then it would make sense for the Episode I story to have a long backstory as well. Since the Zohar is already given a long backstory in Perfect Works, being buried on the original Earth for thousands of years before humankind went into space, it would not be all that farfetched if more aspects of Deus are also revealed to be far more ancient than the year T.C. 4767 (from which the backstory of Xenogears the game begins).
If we hypothesize such a theory, could such an ancient, supernatural being or person have been resurrected or revived inside Alpha-1 (the "brain") of the Deus system? Reviving the consciousness of a person inside a machine or computer is already a common occurance in the world of Xenogears, although for the most part this process reduces their personality to mere numbers or data like the Gazel Ministry or Krelian's two followers Rattan and Mugworth. The one exception to this is Emeralda, who is described by her creator as a vessel for a new soul. Assuming we take this literally, where did this soul come from? Perhaps Emeralda's soul is the reincarnation of the soul of a human that had existed before? The technology that gave birth to Emeralda was based on the technology of the Eldridge civilization, which was more advanced than the technology Krelian used in the 9500s era when he resurrected the Ministry and his two followers. What does Perfect Works say about the central element of Alpha-1, which is called 'Persona'? If Persona was an artificial creation by the scientists that constructed Deus, then should it not say that those scientists created it? Instead, the book says the following:
"Like MAM [Zohar], the origin and nature of Persona, the central element of Kadmoni, remain unclear."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, page 8 (Razael's translation)
While Kadmoni itself is an artificial intelligent computer, the organic element that gives it a "living" (biological) factor is completely veiled in mystery. Not only that, but page 69 indirectly states that Kadmoni is not an artificial computer created by those scientists, but instead is the product of a mysterious "Over-Technology."
* Bioelectronic brain Kadmoni
Embedded within the pupil's inner fathoms lies the "Control Computer." It appears to be the product of an "Over Technology," whose origin remains unclear.
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, page 69 (Int's translation)
The questions to the mystery of Miang and Persona, then, must be explored by looking more deeply into all of these elements, and possibly what Takahashi decided to do with similar concepts in the otherwise different Xenosaga story. But that is what other sections of the story analysis is for. As for Episode VI, if we assume that Miang, or the 'great Mother', is a spirit entity or supernatural being that can transmigrate or be revived in advanced machines, then is there not a strong likelihood that this entity or person could also return in a new body or form in the last part of the larger story?
What is the origin of the rest of the Deus system?
We know from Xenogears: Perfect Works that the Zohar has an ancient origin, and also that the origins of Kadmoni and its central element Persona are shrouded in mystery, referred to as an "Over-Technology" similar to that of the Zohar. So, while it seems that the Deus system was constructed by scientists of the Eldridge civilization; where and how they got the various components from remains a mystery and could potentially indicate a situation similar to that of Solaris and its scientists reconstructing Deus during the present day narrative. In other words, the various parts of Deus may have been assembled together using much more ancient technology, or discovered alien technology, rather than being invented the last decades of the interstellar war.
This would either mean that the various components of Deus were originally created in even more ancient times for a different purpose, or, the various components were always intended to serve a weapon-like purpose but humans did not have the means to assemble these various devices together until they were sufficiently technologically advanced. And even then, we do not actually know what purpose the scientists of the Eldridge civilization hoped to achieve by assembling together such a weapon. Perhaps it was only the military branch that decided to use it as a weapon to end the interstellar war. Maybe the reason the Deus system went out of control was because those scientists did not understand the true purpose of what they had put together. It always seemed odd that scientists of such an advanced civilization would lose control of their own creation so quickly, and then not understand what went wrong. But it does make more sense if they were using "Over-Technology" that was actually foreign to them. The title of Episode I would still have been "Xeno"gears Episode I after all.
Maybe the Merkabah and even its interface weapons, such as the Diabolos, were also made based on an ancient Over-Technology? Both the Merkabah and "giants" are mentioned in the Old Testament, and the ancient book of Enoch describes very machine-like phenomena at the time before Noah. Since Xenogears was originally called "Project Noah," perhaps the events of Xenogears Episode V are literally meant to partly portray the reoccurrence of the same phenomena that occured in ancient Earth, before early humanity were wiped out by a flood. In both cases there was a selfish and arrogant humankind that was eventually wiped out by a disaster caused by "God." In both cases there was a presence of "giants" that later disappeared from history. We assume the giants spoken of in Genesis are human giants, but a science fiction story could easily get away with portraying them as huge machines. Also, in both the Old Testament and in Xenogears there exists a chariot of God called "Merkabah." In both cases an attempt is made to construct an "Ark" that will save a portion of humanity. And in both cases there is a man that goes away to "walk with God" (Enoch and Krelian).
The strangest part of Deus, however, is the biological living core; 'Omega-1' - a strange creature with a human-like face that seems rather alien to the rest of the system. Since Xenogears: Perfect Works describes Deus as a living weapon intended to consume living things, as a source of growth and self-sustainment while destroying targeted planets, we should probably assume that the Omega-1 creature is not a synthetic life form but actually the result of genetic manipulation done on the DNA of living organisms (humans and animals) to create a kind of chimera or mutant organism. That would partly explain why Deus needed specifically humans as parts for its damaged body, even though in the narrative the flesh of humans is used for everything but the restoration of that particular creature. It is also because Deus needed humans as parts that I mostly dismiss the idea that alien DNA is somehow involved. So through what kind of scientific (or supernatural) process did such a creature come about? For what reason or purpose? Was it always intended to serve as a weapon?
Furthermore, based on Deus' final appearance at the end of Episode V, it seems this creature was either not necessary for Deus to function, or it merely served as the first stage in an intentional process of evolution. But it seems odd that the Gear-like form, that Miang supposedly pilots at the end, would require such a stage in its evolution. Weltall could evolve into Xenogears without temporarily turning into a living creature, so why would Deus require such a stage in its development? If the writers just wanted you to fight a grotesque creature as part of the ultimate weapon, could they not have shown defense weapons with such an appearance instead?
What is the origin of the other three bioelements, 'Persona', 'Anima' and 'Animus'?
Besides the Omega-1 creature, Deus also consists of a biological brain referred to as "Alpha-1" or Kadmoni that combines artificial intelligence (through a fullerene conductive element, mistranslated as "flourine" by UltimateGraphics) and three independent living elements. These three biological elements are called "Persona," "Anima," and "Animus." They supposedly bring to the Kadmoni "uncertain calculations" in thinking to balance the rigid and logical calculations of the artificial intelligence operating through the fullerene conductor part of Kadmoni. But what exactly are these biological parts?
"Kadmoni's organic components are divided into three distinct parts: PERSONA, the Anima, and the Animus.
Control of the Deus System, implementation of instructions, data analysis, control of the various weapon systems, objective fulfillment, and system output control are all instituted and carried out by the organic elements PERSONA, Anima, and Animus.
PERSONA is a general term used to describe the "human factor" (or the human generator) of the organic components. The name of the key program which constitutes PERSONA is "Elehayym." From a human perspective, this can be viewed as the "personality" of the system [...]"
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, page 71 (Int's translation)
It is strange that living parts would be referred to as a "program" and at the same time be implied to have human qualities. It is also strange that a biological counterpart to a mechanical A.I. would need three distinct and separate organic components to balance out the A.I. part of the system. By "organic components" I assume we are looking at three somewhat independent organisms here that must in some way have genetic structural capacity to cell divide into living beings very similar to humans. But not only that. Somehow, this cell division or genetic code has the capacity to create immortal beings that not only cannot die of old age, but whose descendants can evolve powerful abilities such as Ether that links these genes with the nature of the Zohar reactor from which they can draw out energy.
Let's be frank here. Out of all the science fiction concepts in the story, the part about these organic components - especially the Anima and Animus - is by far the weakest one. I do not believe there is any way the story could have elaborated upon these concepts and their origin without tying them to a supernatural factor or aspect of this fictional universe. It also seems to me that whatever this organic substance is, it is in some way related to the mysterious Zohar object and the unknown Over-Technology that makes use of it (such as Kadmoni itself), since not only can the Animus substance somehow link to the Zohar, but the Anima can as well when merged with something in-organic like machines. It is through these very elements that the Deus system can link to the Zohar and request energy. The same page I quoted above says that Kadmoni is made of the same, or nearly the same, substance as Zohar:
"The living brain Kadomony was developed to manage the entire Deus System. Since it was constructed to be contained within Zohar, it is surmised that it probably has nearly the same substance as Zohar."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (UltimateGraphics' translation)
"The bioelectronic brain was developed to govern the entire Deus System, it is buried within Zohar itself and may actually be made of the same material Zohar's body is made from or, it is safe to say, something very similar."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (Int's translation)
The Zohar object itself is already something that is close to being supernatural in the story, having existed since the beginning of our four-dimensional universe according to Perfect Works. So when these other mysterious elements are so closely related to it, either having nearly the same "substance" as the Zohar or being uniquely able to link to it, then that supernatural factor obviously extends to these elements as well. It is therefore possible, and most likely the case, that the Anima and Animus substances originally belonged to a supernatural living being or beings that may have had access to the Zohar all along and be almost as ancient as that mysterious object. And since the Zohar existed on Earth, it is likely that this supernatural being or beings were not aliens from another planet. If they left some kind of mark in ancient history it was probably as gods, angels, demons, or other mythological figures.
From what I can tell, reading Perfect Works, it seems the six "containers" on each side of Kadmoni (twelve in total) were the location of the Anima elements, since the book states that the Anima were scattered all across the planet when Kadmoni came crashing down, and you can see those containers having been flung open to various degrees. The Animus element was probably contained within the same space as Original Elhaym (Persona), since Perfect Works specifies that that space is a "lifeform assembler plant." The Original Elhaym in Miang mode then used that assembler plant to create Cain and the Gazel Ministry (the 13 founders of the new mankind) out of the Animus substance. They in turn continued to use the assembler plant to create various kinds of humans (the specifics are not made clear in the book).
Why Takahashi did not simply have Cain and the Gazel procreate with the original Mother to make more humans, which would have been more realistic, I cannot fathom. But probably Takahashi needed to speed up the process of creating new humans if he wanted more characters than Abel, Cain, Elly, the twelve Gazel, and Miang in Episode II when he originally planned to tell that story outside of Episode V. He also needed some way to split Miang and Elly, so more female humans would have had to be created early. Whatever happened to the living element "Persona" or why that was needed in the first place remains unclear. One would assume that Persona remains as the corpse of the original Mother resting inside the Kadmoni, which would imply that the Persona organic element did not have the same quality of immortality as the Animus did. Though it is implied in the story that Elly's body is Persona in every incarnation.
What genetic material are humans that Deus created made out of?
With Cain and the Gazel elders made out of the Animus, what other material were the first humans made out of? Whatever organic components it was, it was clearly not as potent and powerful as the material that turned into the 13 founders of the new humankind who had flesh that would not die from old age. Yet it was no ordinary biological material either, since its genetic code had a specific feature that through genetic manipulation would respond to the activation of the mysterious Goetia Key, turning them into Wels; a kind a bloodthirsty zombie form that needs to consume the flesh of ordinary humans to survive. Again, we must be dealing with some kind of supernatural living substance that responds to whatever ethereal vibrations this strange "key" produces when becoming active (more on this later), as well as being able to evolve "pseudo-Zohar abilities" (Ether) from natural selection.
A fair guess would have been that the ordinary humans were made out of the Persona element, and that the original Mother did not embody all of it. However, Xenogears: Perfect Works states on page 11 that all the humans were in fact made from the Animus element. But it distinguishes between "Animus Original Form" (for Cain and the Gazel) and just "Animus" (for the other humans created). This suggests that the first being made from Animus got most of its powers (Cain), while the twelve that followed got only some of it (the Gazel), and the rest got the least potent version of this organic component. This is of course not how genes or lifeforms work, but if we stick with the supernatural living material hypothesis then we can perhaps run with this idea the way the story seems to do.
Another interpretation I am sure people have is that the Animus and other "organic components" were artificial life, or partly artificial, hence why the humans in the story are often referred to as new "artificial humans" (a phrase that does appear written in English at the top of page 14 in Perfect Works). But what sort of synthetic material would be capable of cell division and giving birth to new life like an actual organism? The information in Perfect Works clearly states that the Animus (along with Anima and Persona) are organic, living elements and says nothing about any synthetic material. Perhaps the phrase "artificial humans" is referring to advanced genetic manipulation rather than a synthetically manufactured material. But usually genetic "supermen" are not referred to as "artificial" humans but rather as "genetically engineered" humans, a phrase I have not heard people use for Cain and the Gazel Ministry (who are called "gods" on the same page). Regardless, neither advanced genetic manipulation nor a synthetic material is going to create the kinds of supernatural powers that Emperor Cain has.
Advanced genetic manipulation or synthetic material is also not going to turn living beings almost identical to humans into rapidly mutating zombies that needs healthy flesh in order to survive. Normally a living being can consume a lot of different foods and animals, not turn to eat its own kind in order to stave off physical pain. It is even suggested in the game that this kind of suffering creature, clearly not healthy from any biological standard, is the "true form" of these humans. But it makes no sense that the true form of something is more flawed, short-lived, and suffering than its non-true form. The original Japanese text says "things referred to as... the real form of humans" which implies that it is hearsay. Since the antagonists wants people to accept their fate as Wels (parts for the Deus system) they probably started to spread a rumor that Wels are the true form of humans. If anything, the true form of humans is as whatever the Animus was like within Kadmoni before Deus crashed onto the planet.
Furthermore, it is strange that an organism originating from a system still requires genetic modification in order to be used as a part for that same system. Page 16 in Perfect Works states, in a paragraph about the Lesser Goetia Key, that "Since primeval times, humans have been subjected to genetic manipulation in order for them to be reborn as parts for Deus (M Plan). The people whose genes were tampered with, called the 'race for construction' (Sephardi), are preordained to become Merkabah's main unit and terminal combat weapons." So if Wels and other mutated forms of these humans are the result of genetic manipulation done throughout their history on the planet, then those Wels and mutations cannot correctly be regarded as the true forms of these humans or even that they were always destined to mutate and become parts - which seemingly contradicts parts of the narrative. But perhaps the modification required for basic unification with Deus was accomplished in the early days and later genetic modification was done to make better parts.
It is also unlikely that the original Animus substance was made up of nanomachines since the narrative makes a big point about Krelian's nanomachines being an addition to Deus' later evolution. Although nanotechnology is implied to have existed with the Eldridge culture, nowhere in Perfect Works does it say that Deus or its central elements originally utilized nanotechnology, and nanotechnology would still not be enough to explain all the strange peculiarities of these organic, living components.
How did Cain have immortal flesh before it was altered by Krelian's experiments?
Unlike the other humans manufactured from Kadmoni's lifeform assembler plant, Emperor Cain was more or less indestructible, and he could use Ether abilities from the start (as seen when he tries to kill Abel) while the Gazel could not. His flesh did not age, and he could also not be harmed by anyone up until a copy of himself was somehow made by Krelian and Miang. While the assumption often made is that this copy (Ramsus) is a clone, this is not stated in the game or Perfect Works from what I can find. Only that he is a "copy." It is interesting that Ramsus is referred to as an "artificial lifeform" when the rest of the humans supposedly already are artificial as well. Nothing in Xenogears Episode V is exactly natural from a biological standpoint, so are we talking about a hierarchy of artificialness here?
Anyway, nowhere does it state that Cain was in any way programmed like Miang was, and Perfect Works even says that "From the beginning Cain is not tied by anyone, and should have been able to rule at will indefinitely." So why did such a powerful being go along with the resurrection of Deus in those early days? Cain is basically a god within the four-dimensional universe and nowhere does it state that even the Contact, who has the power of the Wave Existence, is able to kill him. Krelian and Miang does not even seem to consider the idea of using the Contact when trying to get rid of Cain. They did not ask Grahf for help when he was training Id. Instead they go through the trouble of creating a copy.
Such a god-like human would normally be content with his own power and not easily be willing to merge with a man-made super weapon that would result in a loss of freedom. Since Perfect Works confirms that Cain and Miang fabricated the legend of God, Cain must have known about Deus' true nature. So what would be in it for him? The answer must be the mysterious phenomena bound up with the Time of the Gospel that would destroy humankind if Deus was not resurrected within 10,000 years. Cain clearly knows that there is a time limit, but how he came to know this is unknown. It does not make sense for Miang to simply have told him so, since then he would have reason to doubt or question her truthfulness. Especially since Miang benefits more from resurrecting Deus than he does. But Cain states this as if it is a fact, even though he is being vague, and Xenogears: Perfect Works also confirms that the time limit is real.
While Cain eventually decides to gamble and entrust the future to the Contact rather than to the Deus system, it makes more sense for Cain to somehow be tied up with the entire mystery of Deus' true intention from the start, such as why it tried to go to Earth when it awoke onboard the Eldridge, and why it needed to resurrect itself within the span of 10,000 years, rather than him going off of hearsay or merely the words of Miang. Either Miang was somehow able to show Cain through some means why there is a time limit, or Cain's nature or consciousness also predates the Eldridge crash similar to Miang's consciousness and nature. The two of them certainly seemed to have been very efficient at working together with a similar understanding right from the moment Cain was "manufactured" out of Kadmoni by Miang, and they both seem to be aware of Deus' intent and purpose from the get go.
Could Cain also be a much older will or consciousness resurrected into Animus similar to how human personalities are resurrected into machines and computers in the story? If reincarnation happens to every human in the four-dimensional universe, then also those souls that exist within the Animus living element must have existed in another flesh or form prior to their birth as Animus-humans. But such a theory would not explain how Cain could have memories of anything before his birth on the planet, unless the incredible power of the original Animus can somehow retain memories just like the power of the Wave Existence.
Could Cain have some of the power of the Wave Existence, or the power of another Wave Existence? Neither the game nor Perfect Works states that there is only one Wave Existence in the higher dimension. But even if there is only one Wave Existence, perhaps part of its energy from before it was captured by the Zohar reactor was somehow extracted by the Animus element via the Path of Sephirot by using the Zohar. The Wave Existence does not say that all its power went into the Contact. Maybe it was just the power it had left?
Not only would that explain why Cain is so powerful, but also why the Contact often seems to be less powerful than Cain. The Contact not only can die from old age, but the injury Fei sustains from his battle with Ramsus underwater suggests the Contact can get brain damage and possibly be killed, unlike Cain who could only be physically harmed by a copy of himself. And Cain, before Ramsus neutralizes his power, even has the same pink power aura that Id has on occasions. When we see Deus and Xenogears enter the opening to the higher dimension, we also see pink waves inside of it, indicating a possible relation. One flaw with this theory, however, is that genetic experiments could somehow alter the nature of Cain's flesh causing him to weaken by age, suggesting the key to understanding Cain's power lies in understanding the nature of the Animus element itself.
Animus and Anima are both Jungian concepts that refers to eternal archetypes within the collective unconscious. It therefore makes sense that both the Animus and the Anima living elements are eternal in the fictional universe of Xenogears, having the nature of immortality. Since they also represent male and female qualities, it would also make sense to speculate that whatever form the Animus and Anima organic elements had prior to the creation of Deus, they would likely have had the form of a male figure or figures and a female figure or figures. Could Cain and maybe even Miang be reincarnations of these figures?
Given the strange nature and power of Cain, the unexplained abstract space he resides in, the knowledge and concern he has regarding the Time of the Gospel, and how we never really see his face behind the mask, it would be odd to not elaborate on him in Episode I or VI. The black, featureless face we see once the mask comes off seems to be his face, but distorted by his failing flesh as Perfect Works states that after subjecting his own body to experiments "his physical appearance changed considerably." But what of his glowing, emerald colored eyes? There is reason to believe we never got to see at all what Cain really looked like, since Perfect Works states that "His [Ramsus] outside appearance resembles both Emperor Cain and the boy Bekker [that he fused with]" and yet Ramsus has nothing resembling Cain in terms of dark skin tone or eye color.
What is the origin and nature of Cain's unknown space?
As touched upon in the previous mystery about Cain and his powers, what is up with the strange space in which Emperor Cain seems to reside in the present day? Within this vast, empty space there are abstract pictures circling around with motifs resembling Fei's paintings but not quite identical. Some pictures seems to show parts of the planet while others look more cosmic or simply abstract. There is also the sound of something resembling a slow ticking clock within this space.
Since it is implied that Emperor Cain and Citan share a telepathic connection through which they communicate in realtime during the narrative, it is tempting to conclude that the infinite empty space where Citan and Cain are seen talking is merely an abstract representation of their mental communication. But since we later see Ramsus literally killing Cain in this space, we are likely not meant to interpret this place as an abstraction of mental communication. If it is not a physical space, then perhaps it is something like a virtual space, assuming that a physical act of violence that would result in physical death could still take place in such a space.
A third possibility could be that this space connects to the spiritual part of reality, such that Ramsus is actually striking at Cain's soul in order to be able to kill him. Could such a thing as "soul space" exist in Xenogears in which people can enter and meet (like Citan and Cain does) despite vast distances in the physical world? We have already seen something similar to it in the Path of Sephirot, although there people's consciousnesses or souls were represented through nakedness. Still, violence also took place there, such as Fei's battle with the Uroborus entity. Though how Cain and Solaris could open a way into the spirit side of reality, if this hypothesis is accurate, would require some explanation.
Although Cain was killed during Episode V, and since Cain did not exist (at least in this form) during Episode I, it seems we were unlikely to get an answer to the mystery of this "Cain space." But by choosing to present this unknown location the way they did, I think Takahashi was required to explain this space by either returning to it in Episode VI or allude to it through a similar concept in Episode I or VI. Maybe it is through this mysterious space that Cain, somehow, is aware of how something terrible is going to happen if Deus is not resurrected within a certain timespan? Could the pictures be information about this phenomenon encoded in abstraction that only the Emperor can interpret?
What is the origin and nature of the Goetia Key system?
Neither the game nor Xenogears: Perfect Works makes any attempt whatsoever to explain the "science," nature, or origin of the Deus resurrection/ignition device referred to as the 'Lesser Goetia Key' or 'Lesser Key of Goetia' (officially translated as 'Gaetia Key' in the game). Not only does this strange object or device awaken the Omega-1 creature sleeping inside the Machanon block, it also causes that entire central hull of the Eldridge to rise from the bottom of the sea to float above the ocean in mid-air. It somehow sends out some sort of signal through an unknown medium that initiates mutations at the cellular level of most Animus-humans, and it can only be activated by the Gazel Ministry. Since Krelian says he needed the Gazel Ministry to use the key, and therefore resurrected them inside the SOL-9000 to begin with, it is clear that, despite all his scientific knowledge, even Krelian could not use this device without them. And it does not seem like Miang could either.
Did Cain and the Gazel Ministry somehow create this device and tie it to their own higher Animus nature after they were born on the planet, or did this device and associated system exist since the time Deus was created over 10,000 years prior to the present day narrative? Perfect Works only makes a few passing references to this device, for example in Cain's profile were it states that "Control over the execution rights for the 'Lesser Key of Goetia', the system to activate the bodily mutations programmed in humans, belongs to the Ministry, however, these have been sealed away by Emperor Cain." Thus it seems that Cain could not use this device either. The same paragraph also states that "Through the activation of every Vessel of Anima and Cain being assassinated by Ramsus, the Ministry at last activated the 'Lesser Key of Goetia'", which implies that the activation of every Vessel of Anima is also required to use this device.
I find it unlikely that when the Deus system was originally being put together in the T.C. 4700s, the material used to create the Merkabah, the Diabolos, and other defense weapons, would have been human flesh. Especially since the flesh of the original humans in the space civilization would have been different in biological nature from the later Animus-humans formed by Miang. As such, there would not have been any need for a device that would turn humans into Wels. It is also unlikely such a device would have been needed to move the Eldridge colony ship, especially since that ship was not a part of the Deus system. An ignition device or start-up code of some kind was likely used during the original connection experiments, but if it was the Goetia Key then only Deus itself would have been able to use it, starting itself up, unless there were more of the Animus substance that could be used by the scientists.
However, although it would make little sense for the developers of Deus to create something like the Goetia Key, it seems equally unlikely that Cain and the Gazel Ministry would be able to create something like that on their own with their much more limited resources. We never see them create anything new in regards to the Deus system, and even if they could, I find it unlikely that Miang (Deus) and Cain would allow the Gazel to create a new device that they alone had complete control over, leaving Deus' resurrection entirely in their hands. The reason the Eldridge hull rises from the activation of the key could be because it is actually the parts of Deus inside it that are rising, bringing the rest of the spaceship with it. And the reason Animus-humans (after some genetic modification) begin to transform could be a side effect caused by whatever relation exists between the Animus living element and the Goetia Key that Deus simply decided to take advantage of to restore itself.
So what then could be the actual origin and original purpose of this artifact? I have already speculated that a more ancient and even supernatural origin could be the case for many other parts of the Deus system, and if there was ever a blatant clue or reference to supernatural magic in the world of Xenogears then it would be the name of this device. "Lesser Goetia Key" is clearly a reference to a mid-17th century spellbook more commonly known as "The Lesser Key of Solomon" or "Lemegeton." It is divided into five books, and the first book is called "Ars Goetia" with "Goetia" being a Latin term derived from a similar ancient Greek word that literally means "witchcraft." The book is about ceremonial magic intended to summon demons and evil or unclean spirits.
In the world of Xenogears, is this name only a symbolic reference because the mutated forms of the Animus-humans resemble demons and other evil creatures from folklore, or is there more to it? Certainly the Goetia Key does not literally summon demons, but whenever a reference to a scientific term is used (like the Heisenberg engine or Uncertainty Principle) it is included because Xenogears is ultimately a science fiction story portraying the future of our universe. In Zeboim we even see a Christmas Tree, likely influenced from the Eldridge culture. So if the Goetia Key has that name, and especially if it was manufactured by the Eldridge civilization, then could there be an actual in-universe connection between the occult magic described in the mid-17th century spellbook and this device created thousands of years later? For example, maybe the ceremonial magic described in this spellbook was misunderstood as something that would summon demons and evil spirits, when in reality the magic was something else connected to Animus, Anima, the Zohar, and whatever else strange phenomena in the Xenogears version of our universe that has no clear scientific origin or explanation in the game or Perfect Works?
Look at the symbol that appears when the Key activates. It clearly looks like the type of magic seals and symbols that can be found in such ancient spellbooks. Krelian even uses the occult term "invocation" when talking about the function of the key ("We need humans that do not depend on the key's invocation in order to awaken") and no other explanation or term is used to explain how the device can cause transformations of Animus-humans at a distance, all over the world. This thing is clearly magical, transmitting some type of "spiritual" wave or vibration that resonates with the Animus element and other parts of Deus (in particular the Omega-1 creature).
Whatever the Goetia Key device is, it is probably made from the same mysterious "Over-Technology" as Kadmoni and the Zohar reactor, and was likely housed within Kadmoni close to the Animus and used by Deus itself to awaken (both on Michtam 04β and onboard the Eldridge) by linking to the Zohar without the need for an actual physical energy connection. In other words, it did this through a "supernatural" means, which would explain why the scientists could not figure out what was happening. Perfect Works states on page 8, regarding the spacefaring humans, that "Even though they grew in knowledge, it was only scientific - their spiritual 'expansion' did not occur." So, was the original purpose of the Goetia Key device to link to the Zohar's phenomenon alteration abilities using the Animus element as a medium? Everything in Episode V suggests that the Animus factor is what allows people to draw power from the Zohar.
Supernatural phenomena can belong in a work of science fiction, such as in the novel Childhood's End that inspired some of the ideas in Xenogears. As long as it is not high fantasy magic there is no reason to dismiss concepts of a supernatural origin. Xenogears is in many ways a spiritual story, and so should explore such questions as the possible reality of something more beyond physical matter. Would Episode I and VI have gone in such a direction, I am sure some fans would have complained about the weak sci-fi. But in many ways Episode V is already weak sci-fi and I think fans of this work should brace themselves for the idea that not everything would have had a scientific explanation. Theories and speculations on what Takahashi intended will not get anywhere otherwise.
Why did Deus need humans as parts instead of something else?
As I touched on before, I find it unlikely that the original humans in outer space used human flesh to construct the original Merkabah and Deus' defense weapons. But when Deus attempts to resurrect its damage parts or recreate them, it uses almost nothing but Animus-human flesh that originally only seemed to serve a function in its biological brain. I always assumed that human flesh was only used for its weapons and the core (since the core seemed to replace the Omega-1 creature despite no longer resembling a living organism). But Xenogears: Perfect Works specifies that human parts are also used to construct the new Merkabah.
Perhaps Deus, finding itself on a primitive planet, was forced to utilize the cell division and procreative potential of living organisms in order to get hold of a sufficient quantity of material for its damaged parts. It then used the biological element it had, which had taken the form of a human female thanks to Abel's contact with the Wave Existence, to create more humans so that they could multiply and become the new material for its external body. But if so, then why did Deus not also create non-intelligent lifeforms that would be easier to control, or use the flesh of the planet's indigenous creatures? Perfect Works does provide an explanation for the choice of humans rather than other organisms, stating that "Deus created the human lifeform as an experimental subject for the coming battle. [...] after Deus completes its resurrection, it will use human beings to simulate a conflict with an enemy force."
Still, this seems like an inefficient approach, given that most humans were intended to transform and become parts for it. If Deus would have encountered an "enemy force" in outer space it would have encountered original humans that were not Animus, and who would likely have been much larger in numbers than the relatively few humans who end up not mutating. More importantly, why not simply utilize the humans as a slave race to rebuild its body with mechanical parts and then wipe them out as simulation practice rather than use their flesh for its body? Another explanation is needed.
Perhaps the lifeform assembler plant could only create human-like beings, but that would mean the living elements inside Kadmoni must have had an exclusively human quality from the beginning. And that does not explain why the biological brain Alpha-1 had a lifeform assembler plant installed to begin with. Why would an interstellar weapon like Deus need such a thing in the first place? The idea of it being intended as a potential resurrection program for the weapon should it be almost destroyed during combat is actually dismissed by Xenogears: Perfect Works on page 11, stating "If the [resurrection] plan's raison d'être is solely to restore Deus as a weapon and eliminate any enemy forces, then this is clearly not a cost-effective move."
We can therefore assume that the reason Deus created humans, the reason it had a lifeform assembler plant capable of doing this, and why it decided to use specifically humans as parts to recreate its body, must have had something to do with its real purpose tied up with the phenomena of the "Time of the Gospel." If Deus was not resurrected within the span of 10,000 years then humankind would somehow be destroyed according to Emperor Cain and the After Word in Xenogears: Perfect Works. But why would Deus care about what happens to humankind if it is merely an interstellar weapon with an artificial intelligence? Well, as we have examined so far, Deus seems like something much more supernatural and foreign than a mere man-made weapon, which the original humans likely just assembled together for an urgent military purpose without understanding its true nature.
"From this, one could surmise that the reason for Deus' resurrection is not merely for combat purposes but could lie elsewhere. This is supported by the fact that Deus chose to go to Earth out of all the countless planets in the galactic federation. Perhaps Deus' complete resurrection was something that absolutely had to be carried out regardless of the length of time required."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~
Why was there a time limit for Deus to be resurrected?
As some of the dialogue spoken by Emperor Cain and the Gazel Ministry implies, and Xenogears: Perfect Works directly states in its After Word, there was a time limit of roughly 10,000 years for Deus to resurrect itself, and if this did not happen then human beings would somehow face annihilation. To briefly summerize, I will cite all the relevant parts from the game (using the most accurate translation available) and Perfect Works:
Emperor Cain: "Having filled the earth, we again enter the presence of God, return to paradise, and gain eternal life. That is the time of the gospel. That age is approaching. Until then we Gazel must search for God's resting place, and revive him. If this does not come true..."
Citan: "If it does not come true?"
Emperor: "Then through the fate from our Genesis, we..."
Citan: (We will really face annihilation? Your Majesty...)
Gazel: An eternity has passed since our banishment from paradise. Should the revival of God not be complete by the time of the gospel, We will have to follow the path of destruction. But......
Gazel: Already, we are out of time. The key, use the key......
Krelian: "Naturally you are a bit terrified, aren't you?"
Gazel: Krelian...... What is Cain's condition?
Krelian: "Undergoing the usual life extension treatment. It should maintain him...... for a little longer."
Gazel: So there is a possibility that we will not make it in time......
Gazel: Cain! What are you doing!?
Gazel: Our goal will not be fulfilled without the revival of God!
Gazel: Or perhaps...... You mean to destroy yourself along with God, Cain......
"As I'm sure the more perceptive of you have noticed, no clear and specific explanation of the true meaning behind the words the Time of the Gospel or the three mysterious phenomena bound up with it -- why was it absolutely necessary for 'God', Deus, to restore itself within the long span of 10,000 years?, why was there a time limit to this process?, why would mankind be destroyed as a result of this? -- was ever provided, to the very end. [...]
"The true meaning of the Time of the Gospel. This enormous mystery enveloping the world of Xenogears is still not resolved."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, After Word
So what is the nature and origin of this time limit and related phenomena? Since it appears Deus was somehow attempting to counteract it, it seems the best way to begin to speculate and analyze this phenomena would be to look at the Deus system and its actions. As examined previously, the Deus system is an amalgamation of seemingly supernatural components and features, such as the Zohar being as old as the universe; the Anima and Animus biological elements having god-like power and longevity; the Uroborus Ring coded into Persona's intron not getting spliced out of the RNA transcript process and having seemingly spiritual and conscious qualities; a start-up device that simulates occult-like symbols used in ancient spellbooks; and being on a personal mission, not programmed by its "creators," to save mankind from annihilation while at the same time often eradicating human beings on a large scale or using them for its body.
Given how closely tied up and preoccupied the Deus system is with humans, I think it is a reasonable assessment to assume that whatever the nature of this time limit and threat of annihilation is, it is somehow connected to human beings and their nature or actions. This is also supported by Cain's hope that a new "kind" of human being might escape both merging with Deus and the threat of annihilation that Deus' resurrection is to prevent. Speaking of a "new kind" of humans, the Deus system had a lifeform assembler plant that was seemingly designed to create a new kind of humans from the mysterious Animus bioelement even if Deus had not been injured. So maybe the utilization of this god-like substance was also necessary to save human beings, and the reason Cain developed a hope for Animus-humans to escape their annihilation even without Deus was because they possessed this Animus factor, or an evolution of it, within them.
However, if Deus really needed to give birth to a new kind of humans made out of the special Animus element, it would presumably have needed to do so on some planet even if it had not accidently crashed onto one mid-flight. And in fact, Deus did attempt to travel to a particular planet when it was interrupted by the Eldridge's self-destruct mechanism. But before we touch on that it is worth noting that whatever this threat of annihilation is, it must be a threat larger in scale than merely the destruction of the Animus-humans on Fei's planet, since, when Deus first set out on its aim, those humans did not yet exist. It is also unlikely that the threat of annihilation is due to some other super-weapon or weapons created by other humans, since the Deus system is about as powerful as anything within the four-dimensional universe can get. And besides, if the threat really was other weapons of destruction utilized by humans or aliens, then why would Deus need a lifeform assembler plant or aim for a particular planet among thousands of worlds in our galaxy? Why would there be a specific time limit?
The Japanese fandom, which had knowledge of this time limit long before Western fans did (Perfect Works was not fully translated until 2009), has a theory that keeps getting copy-pasted on their equivalent to the West's fandom hosted Wikia sites. This theory states that, due to some safety device within Zohar that would trigger a proton decay collapse in all humans born of Kadmoni if Deus was not revived within the time limit, the humans born of Deus would die. But there is nothing in the game's script or Perfect Works to support this hypothesis, and the theory also does not explain why the time limit seems to have caused Deus to act before those humans were even born. Disappointingly, this theory is presented as if it is a fact on these Japanese sites despite not providing a single source, which indicates that this idea likely originated as a simplistic fan theory in the early days that later became a perpetuated dogma in the minds of many as has happened with many other fan interpretations in the west.
So, before we continue our speculation, let us also examine the mystery of "the main planet" mentioned in the opening movie. Xenogears: Perfect Works clarifies by stating the following on page 9:
"During the Opening Movie, Deus, having taken over Raziel, activated Space Transfer Mode, planning a transfer alongside the Eldridge to the "Main Planet". This "Main Planet" is not this era's capital planet Neo Jerusalem, but Lost Jerusalem... that is, it actually refers to Earth.
The details of Deus setting course towards Earth aren't clarified within the story. However, there's no mistake that Lost Jerusalem is acknowledged as the "Holy Planet" by this era's humanity. It can be said that the origin of this was Year 0016 T.C., when humanity sailed forth into outer space, when Earth, as the "Forbidden Land", was designated as an inviolable sector of space. Why Earth was designated an inviolable sector of space is unknown, however, at least it is thought that it was not a sudden change in planetary environment. Wouldn't it be that there's "some secret" hidden on Earth?"
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, page 9 (translation by trexalfa)
Why did Deus want to go to Lost Jerusalem (Earth)?
It is reasonable to assume that the reason Deus wanted to reach Earth is directly connected to the mysterious time limit of 10,000 years for Deus to revive itself or else humans would face annihilation. And since Deus had a lifeform assembler plant capable of creating lifeforms, and especially human beings, I think it is also reasonable to assume that Deus was attempting to create a new kind of Animus-humans on Earth. Clearly creating them on another planet was not sufficient, so there must be something special about Earth. Xenogears: Perfect Works hints at a secret hidden on Earth, but what secret could this be?
Why did Deus have an issue with its "creators" and human beings in general, turning against them right from the start and trying to wipe them out or absorb them, while at the same time having the capacity to create human beings on its own? I say "absorb" since the Deus system was designed to grow and sustain itself by absorbing the lifeforms of any targeted planet before it moved on to the next. However, Deus does not manage to wipe out all the people on Michtam 04β before it is subdued by the military. Perhaps trying to wipe out any lifeform was its "instinct" as a weapon made for warfare that its creators could not control, but what kind of hostile enemy would require the development of such an insane measure to counteract it? What would be worth creating essentially a doomsday weapon intended for such mass destruction?
Whatever the threat was, it must have been a threat rivaling that of Deus itself. Yet at the same time, the threat must have been related to human beings since Perfect Works states that Deus also wants to use human beings as simulation practice for future encounter with hostile forces remaining in outer space. But it does not make sense for Deus to have been given the capacity to create human beings merely to use them for battle simulation practice, since just like with the slow resurrection process it would not be a cost-effective move.
Maybe Deus wanted to eradicate human beings because they had spread out into the stars for some reason, and needed to bring them back to their home world and recreate them there. Ever since Perfect Works revealed that the Zohar object, being as old as the universe itself, was discovered on Earth of all places in the cosmos, it gave me the impression that Earth was "sacred" in some way. Almost as if it was the center of the universe. It is also implied in Perfect Works on page 7 that Zohar actually created life on Earth in the first place, indicating that life therefore could have been unique to Earth. Hence no alien species on other worlds. Though this idea seems to contradict the existence of the indigenous creatures on Fei's planet. But maybe the primitive life on other worlds originated via comets passing by Earth to distant worlds since Perfect Works also brings up the panspermia theory.
"Before mankind set out for the universe...they accidentaly found the origin of species"
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (page 7)
"Eventually, one research institution advanced an alarming new hypothesis about the "Object," stating that its appearance in Earth's geological timeline coincided with the earliest known life ever found; the hypothesis suggested this "Object" may have been the source of all terrestrial life: "artificial" panspermia (Pan-space embryo)."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (Int's translation)
"Did life originate from Zohar!?
Planet Earth took form in the vast void of space about 4.5 billion years ago. Back then, the planet's temperature was extremely high and the atmosphere was mostly composed of deadly Carbon Dioxide gas. Eventually, the Carbon Dioxide began to condense in the atmosphere and form precipitation which gradually cooled the inhospitably hot planet. After this initial cooling, the first 'sea' was formed and it would become the source for all life. After about 500 million years, approximately 4.0 billion years from the present, Earth saw its first life. However, this does not go uncontested; some believe that 500 million years after the formation of Earth is a bit too "early" for life to have existed 'comfortably,' without some sort of catalyst. [...]
These theories would be later clarified, considering that the stratum Zohar was found in was extant when Earth saw its first life. On a more daring note, Zohar may have been directly responsible for the creation of Earth's initial population, rather than just "influencing" it. Although Zohar was briefly touched upon in the game, its true nature was never discussed and remains unknown. [...]"
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (Int's translation)
Is it a coincidence that Kadmoni, a mysterious creation made from the same "substance" as Zohar, has a lifeform assembler plant and neatly fits into the Zohar's eye (its core part), while at the same time Zohar is also what likely created life on Earth or influenced life to evolve into human beings? I do not think so. Is it in fact not entirely possible that Kadmoni is as ancient as the Zohar and was responsible also for the creation of the original humans on Earth? If such is the case, then does it not seem like Deus was trying to reset mankind to its origins by first wiping out the existing humans that had spread out into space and then restart mankind all over again on the world of origin? The only flaw with this theory is that new humans were created from a different substance and their creation had to be performed by an already existing human-like being. But perhaps the Kadmoni can create life from a variety of biological elements (not just Animus), and, when it comes to creating more primitive life forms like bacteria, be able to do so without intelligent assistance?
However, here we come across an inconsistency. If Deus needed to eliminate human beings and restart mankind with the new qualities of Animus, why did Deus not try to finish them off before aiming for Lost Jerusalem? Lost Jerusalem is stated by Perfect Works to be a place abandoned by humans, so Deus would not find any forces to eliminate there. In fact, this appears to be an inconsistency even without this hypothesis since Miang clearly prepared for a coming battle in outer space. Can a theory be provided that would fix this inconsistency? While humans created Deus as a weapon, perhaps Deus itself only uses force and warfare to make it to Lost Jerusalem. But that would mean that something on Earth is causing time to run out for humans elsewhere, which seems unlikely. Besides, it does not seem that the amount of time it would take Deus to reach Earth after it had been resurrected was factored into the time limit. Resurrecting itself using humans as parts seems to have been the most urgent goal.
If we assume that using humans as parts is somehow important, not just the creation of new humans on a planet or the elimination of already existing humans in space, then we must examine what happens to humans that become parts for Deus. Interestingly, the After Word in Perfect Works speaks of "unification" and "being endowed with life" happening to humans that merge with Deus:
"[...] the resurrection of God came to pass, and in truth, many humans became part of God, experiencing a return and reunification being endowed with life [as interpreted by the Gazel Ministry's point of view]. [...]
Humans who become part of Deus and join with it this way attain life, while those who never hoped for that kind of unification, those who intended to break out from under God's protection, are given a divine punishment bearing the name of ruin."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, After Word (translation by Gwendal)
Although there are characters in the story, such as Emperor Cain and the protagonists, who view this unification with Deus as a ruin of the mind, Perfect Works does not seem to take a side on the issue. At least it appears that humans who become parts for Deus do not simply die, but that their consciousness somehow remains with Deus, such as in the case of the Angels that defends Deus. But the Angels do not have free will, as Perfect Works points out, so that is probably what Cain means when he considers unification with Deus to be a "ruin of the mind." But curtailing the independence and will of human beings seems to have been an intentional objective on the part of Miang, as page 171 of Perfect Works points out:
The "Uroborus" refers to the snake that devours its own tail. That image, of something feeding itself, psychologically indicates the state devoid of conflict before an Ego is established-- the Collective Unconscious. It is a state in early childhood where a person cannot yet discern things himself, where there is no conflicting difference between reality and his sense of self. Once the Ego forms, it produces a necessity to sever this circle in order to break away from the unconscious. This is the establishment of one's own conscious world. The basis on which to discern things is born, and there begins to be conflict towards reality that goes beyond that basis of discernment.
"Great Mother" is a name that symbolizes a mother who hinders her child's process of breaking away from this circle (from developing an Ego).
Although Miang destroys entire civilizations in order to produce better parts for Deus, is it also not possible that she destroys them because humans in advanced civilizations tend to develop more of an ego? Could the aim of Deus be to suppress the strong will of human beings, to prevent them from developing a hostile independence? That could be a major reason for why Deus needs humans, specifically, as parts. The strong will (strong ego) of human beings could represent some kind of cosmic danger that will destroy mankind unless Miang and Deus accomplish the goal of making humans more docile by unifying them into itself as one single entity and then erase all humans in outer space who do not desire this union. Like God in the Old Testament, Deus is against the selfish ego (sin) of humanity, but not against the survival of a "righteous" kind of humanity. We must not forget that the story deals a lot with religious analogies, and Deus was originally called "Yahweh" for a reason, and is not just a man-made creation bent on its own survival.
The stress is certainly urgent, with Perfect Works implying that Deus' complete resurrection was something that absolutely had to be carried out regardless of the length of time required. But what is missing is the secret hidden on Earth that Deus tried to reach. Perhaps the creation of new humans to merge with itself became a "Plan B" once Deus knew it would not be able to reach Earth in time, because, with Deus and Zohar being destroyed at the end of Episode V, it seems unlikely that we would see Deus get resurrected once more to go there.
Also, speaking of Deus originally being named "Yahweh," is it possible that Deus actually could have been the biblical Yahweh on Earth in the ancient past? If most of the parts of Deus have a mysterious origin similar to the ancient Zohar, then perhaps this type of unification - and why the parts of Deus could be unified in the way they were - is something that was always the purpose of these components, and had already occured once back during ancient biblical times? Especially around the time before Noah? Could the secret remaining on Earth then be a missing artifact or component of Deus that it needed to complete itself or to use in combination with destruction, creation, and absorption of humans? For Deus to so quickly aim for Earth suggests it has some familiarity with and knowledge of the place, which makes sense if at least some components of Deus had their origin on Earth.
With this type of speculation, however, we must not avoid the question of how such strange 'Over-Technology' came to exist on ancient Earth in the first place. While some of these artifacts could have been created in between the Zohar's discovery in 2001 and the worldwide emigration from Earth in T.C. 16, it seems unlikely due to the small-scale research that was done on the Zohar as it gradually got forgotten by history. Besides, "Kadmoni," "Merkabah," and "Yahweh" are biblical names so we should probably speculate an even older origin, somewhere closer in time to the Garden of Eden story with the creation of humans up until the strange machine-like phenomena and "giants" described around the time of Enoch before Noah and the flood. If such advanced machines existed on ancient Earth, it would make sense that some catastrophe buried them underground. Is it even possible that the "Legend of God" that Cain and Miang later fabricated on Fei's planet, involving humans creating Gears to challenge God after losing paradise, was based on something the Deus system knew about the past of the original mankind? Perfect Works would, after all, not introduce the idea that the Zohar may have created life on Earth if this was not important.
If we assume this is the case, for the sake of argument, and to give Episode I of Xenogears a thematic and stylistic similarity expected of a sequel, then how did these advanced machines come about? Were they, like the Zohar, as old as the universe? If so, it would mean that their origin could potentially lie in another universe that existed before the Big Bang. There is, however, no indication that another universe existed before this universe in the story. In fact, Krelian reveals that our universe originally came from the higher dimension. So if this 'Over-Technology' predates our universe, its origin would have to be the higher dimension. I suppose this is a possibility, but since the Zohar seems capable of creating a link to the higher dimension through phenomenon alteration, similar to an access device, it could be that only the Zohar was created or produced by the higher dimension. Still, given that 'Over-Technology' such as Kadmoni has a similar "substance" as Zohar, some relation between 'Over-Technology' and the higher dimension probably exist.
Naturally, this leads to the assumption that the Wave Existence may have had a hand in the creation of this Over-Technology. In fact, did not powerful god-like machines such as Fei's Xenogears, Grahf's Original Weltall, and the final form of Deus come about due to their contact with Zohar and the Wave Existence? So far we have not included the Wave Existence much in our examination, but that is about to change. To examine the origin of Over-Technology we must factor in the Wave Existence.
How did the Wave Existence know about the Xenogears and use that name?
When Weltall-2 arrived at the Zohar's location, piloted by Id, it began to "mutagenically" evolve due to contact with Zohar and/or the Wave Existence. The result was Fei's ultimate Gear, the "Xenogears." But Fei did not give it that name, nor did Id or anyone else. The one who first used that name was the Wave Existence, the entity that seemingly created it for Fei in order to destroy the Zohar and Deus.
Wave Existence: "To liberate all of us... Use the ....Xe...no....gears... des...troy...Zohar..."
Note that the Wave Existence is not necessarily coming up with the Gear's name right there and then. It is referring to it by name as if it is somehow familiar with it, like the machine has existed before. Almost as if "Xenogears" is more of a term for the type of machine it is than a name. So could the Wave Existence be the creator or origin of God-like machines and Over-Technology? And could another Xenogears machine have existed as far back as the time of Enoch and those mysterious "giants" mentioned in the Old Testament? Or during the interstellar war period of Episode I? Since the title of the work, regardless of episode, is still Xenogears, then perhaps a different Xenogears machine would have existed in each "main" episode (Episode I, V, and VI)?
It must be pointed out though, that Xenogears, Original Weltall, and the final form of Deus are evolved forms of already existing machines. If the Wave Existence created the original Over-Technology on a primitive, ancient Earth, then it must have used some other material. But given the Zohar's incredible phenomenon alteration abilities, perhaps the Wave Existence utilized the Zohar to manufacture Over-Technology from any Earth material, such as minerals in rocks. When we see the birth of Xenogears, it looks like a mixture of rock, organic material, and machine. The original Japanese term for Omnigears was "Gear Bara," with the term "Bara" being a Biblical Hebrew term used to denote an instantaneous and supernatural creation out of nothing by God, which could imply that not even a physical material is necessary. But even though this potentially gives us an answer, we are still left with the question of why the Wave Existence who resided in another dimension would want to create such machines for human beings to utilize?
What if it was not the Wave Existence who created the Over-Technology but some other being or beings on Earth by using the Zohar? I have already speculated that Anima and Animus, with their god-like properties as illustrated by Emperor Cain's immortality, could indicate that the original form of Anima and Animus was some type of god-beings already in existence from mankind's origins. The Uroborus form of Miang already looks like a god-like entity and her connection to the phrase "You shall be as gods" could indicate a connection to mankind's original Eve figure. If gods were real back on Earth, later to be revived into machines for the purpose of managing the Deus system, then perhaps they were the ones who manufactured the Over-Technology by accessing the Zohar's phenomenon alteration abilities. And it would make sense that they could do this if they were made out of the Animus and/or the Anima substances from the start, since it is the Animus factor that makes it possible for the later Animus-humans on Fei's planet to draw Ether power from the Zohar. Otherwise, where did this supernatural, undying "organic" element come from?
A third possibility would be that ordinary ancient humans created the Over-Technology using the Zohar by somehow accessing the Zohar's phenomenon alteration abilities using the Animus substance as a medium. One assumes that the later scientifically advanced humans of the T.C. 4700s era also experimented with access to the Zohar's potentials by utilizing the Animus substance that must have been discovered somewhere, though it seems strange that the substance would be referred to as "organic" or "living" while still not being a living creature. And if the substance was no longer a god-like being walking around, then how did the god-beings "die"? Perhaps keeping these beings dead or controlled was a necessary part of Deus' mysterious aim? Also, exactly how did those humans utilize the Animus to access the Zohar? Could they have used the Goetia Key as an access or control device? The Goetia Key must have played some part originally that did not involve resurrecting Deus or turning humans into mutants, because such features would make no sense when Deus was brand new.
However, if the less advanced humans on primitive Earth accessed the Zohar by using the Animus substance as a medium, they could not have used computers, cables, or other technological equipment. And if the Goetia Key is another piece of Over-Technology, which it appears to be, then they could not have used that device either before creating it. But since the Goetia Key simulates something like occult magic to bring about certain effects, perhaps the humans on primitive Earth used actual occult ceremonial magic to access the powers of the Zohar. The creation of "giants" and other foreign machines, evolving through the Zohar's phenomenon alteration abilities out of rocks or the earth, or coming into existence out of nothing, would then have appeared to those ancient humans as something akin to creatures and artifacts being summoned by magic. Still, the Animus being or beings must have been present for this access to have worked.
But regardless of whether it may have been Animus beings ("gods") or humans who created the Over-Technology, the same question remains. Why did they create this Over-Technology? If the "Legend of God" is partly true, could the Over-Technology have been created for the purpose of challenging God and try to take the Garden of Eden back by force? If so, what would the word "God" be referring to in this case? What would "paradise" or the Garden of Eden be referring to? Could it have something to do with the Wave Existence rather than Deus? Was there some special relation between the higher dimension and the four-dimensional universe before the Wave Existence got captured by the Zohar?
Before we examine that question, we should also address the interpretation that the Zohar engine consists of two separate components: the central eye portion, and the surrounding monolith. While it is implied that it was only the eye portion of Zohar that was discovered on Earth before mankind set out for the stars, that does not mean that the rest of the monolith was created by the scientists who worked on Project Zohar in T.C. 4751. It was around that time that the phenomenon alteration theory was born according to the timeline, so some have the impression that the Zohar was not capable of phenomenon alteration abilities originally. That those abilities were an invention by the scientists working on Project Zohar, and that they built a rectangular engine (the monolith) around the Zohar eye.
There is, however, nothing that states this was the case in Xenogears: Perfect Works. The "phenomenon alteration theory" could just as easily have been a rediscovery on how it is possible to use the Zohar object, with or without the surrounding monolith. And the monolith itself could be just another mysterious piece of Over-Technology that those scientists combined with the Zohar object to "create an engine" that made Zohar's potential more easily accessible. It does not rule out that ancient humans could also have accessed the Zohar's potential phenomenon alteration abilities. The entire monolith structure simply screams "ancient civilization" and does not resemble other T.C. 4700s era technology. The interpretation that T.C. era humans created an engine out of Zohar is merely based on the game's script where the Wave Existence says that an engine called Zohar was "created" by humans instead of "discovered." But it is pretty obvious that Perfect Works retconned this detail.
Could the Wave Existence influence the four-dimensional universe independent of Zohar?
A common interpretation is that the Wave Existence was just some unlucky entity going about its own business in another dimension when one day it suddenly got drawn into a super reactor from our dimension and since then has only been interested in returning home, and that this is the extent of its relation or connection to our four-dimensional universe. But paying close attention to the script during its brief conversation with Fei we can conclude that the truth is not that simple, and that the Wave Existence may not be quite as "alien" to our universe as many people tend to assume.
The first thing the Wave Existence says to Fei is that it is "the beginning and the end. The first and the last." When Fei asks if it is God, the Wave Existence does not deny this, even saying that "some would refer to me as that." Since only the Contact, Miang, and Krelian have known about the Wave Existence for the past 10,000 years, the Wave Existence must be talking about humans from a time before it was imprisoned in Zohar. The Wave Existence would not know who Krelian is at that point, and it is unlikely that Miang would refer to it as God. We also know from Xenogears: Perfect Works that some information about the Wave Existence exists in the Eldridge's Raziel computer, which is how Krelian came to know about it:
"All can be known about the Deus System from the data of the 'Tree of Raziel'. When Fei and the others get this data from Raziel during the story, they are unable to get any further information concerning Zohar because of interference by Krelian. Most likely the data concerning Zohar, the entity of the 'Wave Existence' must be contained there in some form. Krelian analyzes this information and wonders if contact with the will of a higher "God" than Deus might not be possible."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, page 173 (translation by UltimateGraphics)
If the information on the Wave Existence was comprehensive enough for Krelian to conclude that it was the God he had been seeking to guide humankind to rather than Deus, then one assumes the information must have alluded to some aspects of its divine, god-like nature and not just describe it as some mysterious powerful energy or entity from another dimension or unknown origin. This also confirms that the T.C. 4700s era humans who developed Deus knew about the Wave Existence, with some of them possibly even referring to it as God (as the Wave Existence itself alludes to). Since the information about the Wave Existence is implied to have existed in the data about the Zohar, this could mean that the developers of Deus for a long time had considered a connection between the Zohar and the Wave Existence even before it was imprisoned. It seems unlikely that any human would have had the time or opportunity to examine or write down any significant information between the connection experiment when the Wave Existence was captured by the Zohar and the Zohar being loaded onboard the Eldridge.
It also seems that the Wave Existence itself was aware of the activities of human beings, having enough knowledge about them to brief Fei in on the entire history of Zohar and the creation of Deus (even though some of it contradicts Xenogears: Perfect Works). Between that and the Wave Existence hearing some humans refer to it as God, we must conclude that it has at least been observing what was going on in the four-dimensional universe for a long time. Based on this conclusion, it is also not farfetched to assume that the Wave Existence may also have actively attempted to take part in or influence some of the historical events of mankind.
But how could the Wave Existence and ancient humans know about each other? The Wave Existence says that "During the connection tests of Zohar with the newly completed Deus, the engine started to examine infinite potential phenomena... Requiring energy, the engine connected this dimension to the higher dimensional space." It is therefore easy to get the impression that only the Zohar can open a link between the two dimensional spaces. But given that the Wave Existence opens a link by itself to return home once Zohar is destroyed, and that it has clearly been observing the four-dimensional space from the higher dimensional space, we should conclude that Zohar is not the only method of access. It may be for humans, but not for the Wave Existence which is also supposed to be an unfathomably powerful being.
We therefore have reason to think that the Wave Existence would have played a role and had some presence during the events of Episode I, and probably also in Episode VI, despite having returned to its own dimensional space. Perhaps part of the reason why Takahashi considered those two episodes to be important and big in scale is because of the activities of the Wave Existence when operating from its own dimension, whereas in Episode II, III, IV, and V it is largely removed from the action by being locked away inside the Zohar. Could it even be possible that imprisoning the Wave Existence was not just a way for Deus to access more power, but also a way to stop the Wave Existence from potentially interfering in its goal?
Why did Deus use the Zohar to capture the Wave Existence from another dimension?
At first glance, this does not seem to be a mystery or a remaining question to be solved since the game provides an answer when the Wave Existence tells Fei how it ended up inside the Zohar reactor:
Wave Existence: Long ago, a '[phenomenon] modifier', or a pseudo-perpetual, infinite-energy engine was created. [...] During the connection tests of Zohar with the newly completed Deus, the engine started to examine infinite potential phenomena... Requiring energy, the engine [Zohar] connected this dimension to the higher dimensional space. As a result, that reactor 'merged' or 'synchronized' with the wave existence in that higher dimension... ME. I descended from the point of contact created by the machines through the 'Path of Sephirot', or the domain you are in right now, and incarnated in the four-dimensional world. After I 'Advented' to the four-dimensional world, in order to stabalize myself here, I had to exchange, or materialize, my form and enter into the '[phenomenon] modifier' engine. In other words, I became bound in Zohar.
Interestingly, this is the only time we get an explanation, and it is told from the Wave Existence's point of view. The impression one gets from just this context is that the Zohar's phenomenon alteration ability had to capture the Wave Existence in order to attain infinite energy. But from Xenogears: Perfect Works we know that the Zohar itself can produce infinite energy by selecting for the desired outcome of whomever is requesting that energy by bending space-time events in their favor. Perfect Works explains nothing about why also the energy of the Wave Existence was needed or even desirable since an engine that can capture God and its power must obviously be more powerful already. All Perfect Works says regarding the Wave Existence's capture is the following:
"A bodiless existence from a higher dimension, it is like a 'wave' that is imperceptible to our five senses. Before the birth of the universe, everything was one in the dimension of the Wave Existence. However, Zohar's event alteration phenomena erased the boundary between dimensions, causing the Wave Existence to descend into the [four-dimensional universe]."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~
Furthermore, if Deus really needed the power of the Wave Existence then it actually failed to acquire it since the power split off from the Wave Existence and into the boy Abel who was in the vicinity of the Zohar. The Zohar itself was selecting for possible events to acquire the power of the Wave Existence but for some reason was unable to prevent the power from entering Abel instead. So either the power of the Wave Existence was not as important as the capture of the entity itself, or selecting for an outcome where its power stayed inside the Zohar, or went into Deus who requested it, was somehow impossible as a potential phenomenon/event. The latter seems unlikely. While Deus does try to absorb the Contact later during the narrative to acquire the power, Deus seemed fine trying to wipe out Michtam 04β, take over the Eldridge to go to Earth, and turn Fei's planet into a vehicle, without that power. Some of its components, like Emperor Cain, was already immortal and indestructible without the Wave Existence's power. So why would acquring the Wave Existence's power be of any use?
Also, is it not hypothetically possible for the Zohar's manipulation of infinite possible phenomena to have drawn just the power of the Wave Existence down from the higher dimension and not the entire thing? The eventual situation with Abel proves that the power of the Wave Existence can be separated from the Wave Existence itself. Since the Wave Existence's powers can be used to free the Wave Existence, is it possible that Zohar (as requested by Deus) intentionally separated the Wave Existence from its powers in order to neutralize it and keep it imprisoned?
At this point, someone might ask whether or not this could simply be a plot hole or other minor inconsistency common in works of science fiction. None of this stuff is real anyway so could it not just have been a convenient plot device to give the protagonist special powers and there is no need to read too much into it? Normally I would agree with you, but knowing that the author had a lot more story to tell, that he set up a number of other mysteries for Episode I and VI, and the fact that Xenogears: Perfect Works does not attempt to clarify, verify, or even address this at all, makes it worth looking deeper into. Especially since a lot of the mysteries left unexplained are directly related to this event, such as Deus going out of control, the mysterious presence of the boy Abel in a top-secret military facility at the time, the otherworldly nature of the Zohar itself, and what relation existed between humans and the Wave Existence prior to it being captured and sealed away.
There is also one more thing we should factor into our analysis, namely the symbolic and analogical ideas that are clearly drawn from Gnosticism in Xenogears. Deus is clearly inspired by the Demiurge in Gnosticism, while the Wave Existence is inspired by the unknowable God or Supreme Being. In several systems of Gnostic thought the Demiurge is presented as being antagonistic to the will of the Supreme Being, and after its creation it initially had the malevolent intention of entrapping aspects of the divine in materiality. To make the symbolic allusion complete, then, it would only make sense for Deus to have had some intent behind entrapping the Wave Existence inside the Zohar - a material cage - beyond merely needing more energy.
What is the nature of the Wave Existence's power?
Speaking of the Wave Existence's power, what kind of qualities does it actually possess? While Xenogears: Perfect Works devotes an entire page to explain the process in which the Zohar can produce an infinite amount of energy through phenomenon manipulation - and even produce a desired outcome in terms of future events - nothing is explained or touched upon when it comes to the powers of the Wave Existence. This has led several people to make a common assumption, often stated as a fact rather than theory, that the Wave Existence's power is omnipotent power with no limits; power to recreate reality itself in infinite ways. And that Fei, as the Contact, now has these omnipotent and unlimited powers. But is this accurate?
The theory is based on three things. The first is Perfect Works' explanation of the Zohar's infinite event changing abilities, which uses a comic to illustrate what it would look like if Fei used the Zohar's power to achieve a desired outcome (Fei wants to marry Elly and the Zohar selects for this outcome among many possible outcomes). The second thing people use to support this theory is a line from the game's script badly transcribed on GameFAQs that everyone uses, which erroneously says: "I am an 'existence' of a higher dimension. A place where time and space is controlled..." And the third thing people use to support this argument is that the Wave Existence is God, so its powers must be omnipotent.
But the comic with Fei is meant as a humorous example and not something that actually happens in the narrative. It is easy to confuse the powers of the Zohar with the powers of the Wave Existence since the game's narrative often speaks of Fei's "contact with Zohar" and it is implied that in each of his incarnations the Contact needs to reestablish contact with Zohar and the Wave Existence in order to gain access to his powers. Not only that, but by making contact again Lacan even gains a new form of power he did not have before - the power to possess new bodies by dwelling in their minds.
Id: I came to reestablish contact with the Existence. To tie together all the threads of your memories since ancient times... and then cut them off... That is the fate of the Contact... All is ready. It's time for the true awakening!
Wiseman: Zohar is Deus's core. The slave generators and ether... It's the source of all their energy. After attaining its power, the freshly awakened Id intends to annihilate this world!
Id: Lacan became Grahf. He destroyed everything on the face of the earth. He then mastered how to possess the bodies of others by dwelling in their minds. He was probably enabled to do this after his contact with the 'Existence'.
At the same time, it seems to be implied that the Contact always have powers hidden away within himself, such as is supported by the following lines and the fact that young Fei killed his mother because he accidentally released some of his powers, and that was before reestablishing contact with Zohar.
Id: The power drawn out of 'Fei', regardless of his will, destroyed them all.
Id: Grahf came seeking the power that exists within me.
So it seems there is power within the Contact, but this power either needs to be brought to the surface through a new contact with the Wave Existence in each new incarnation, or the power that the Contact gains is the additional power of the Zohar's phenomenon alteration abilities. But if the Contact also needs Zohar's power, then the Zohar's power must be even more powerful than merely the power of the Wave Existence. While this is consistent with the fact that the Zohar's power could capture an all-powerful being and split its powers in the first place, it is not consistent with the idea that only the Wave Existence's power can destroy the Zohar. Whether or not the Contact can use the Zohar's actual phenomenon alteration abilities to any higher degree than other Animus-humans on the planet is not at all clear. Judging by what Perfect Works says, it seems Lacan was the first Contact to develop Ether powers along with other humans of that era, since Miang specifically picked up on this, which seems to indicate that the Contact also has Animus in his incarnations after Abel (since Abel did not) and that some of the Ether Fei has is a separate power from the powers originally having to do with the Wave Existence.
"Myyah is very interested in the ether abilities possessed by humans like Lacan, Sophia and Roni, the biggest reason for this being the fact that the Diabolos does not wield such abilities. She reasoned that if the Corps was able to control ether, she should theoretically be able to enact a more complete resurrection. Anticipating another advancement in humanity's evolution, she resets it through the Diabolos. As a result, only those humans with advanced ether abilities survive, and humanity, which will serve as parts for Deus, reaches its final stage of evolution."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (Razael's translation)
This also means that the Contact may not have gained all the power of the Wave Existence originally, or that it can take limited and specific forms, such as in the new ability Lacan gained to possess the mind of others. In fact, Perfect Works confirms this hypothesis on Abel's profile, stating that:
"[...] Abel, a young child, made contact with the Wave Existence, captured within the Phenomena Modification Engine Zohar, which was a part of the Deus System. A fragment of the power of both Zohar and the Wave Existence flowed inside Abel. [...]"
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, page 158 (translation by trexalfa)
I had the translator I am working with make sure he translated that part accurately since it surprised me. But having just a fragment of the power of the Wave Existence makes so much more sense than is implied in the game, especially since some of the Wave Existence's power also must have gone into Elly and Miang for them to retain their memories between incarnations, and is indeed stated by Fei in the game to be due to "some of the power of the Wave Existence." So this would clear up some of that inconsistency, though it still contradicts the impression one gets in the game that all its power went into Abel. So is it possible Deus did get some of the Wave Existence's powers as well? That could help to explain Cain's powers, for example. But the specifics of these relatively minor powers seems unrelated to any sort of frivolous limitless power to alter reality at will.
The reveal in Perfect Works that Abel also got a fragment of the power of Zohar changes the implication slightly, however, and could indicate that Fei may have phenomenon alteration abilities after all. The question is how we should interpret him receiving "a fragment" of that power? And does that mean someone can now connect to Fei and request energy from him if he has this power? If so, how can a machine, magical as it may be, transfer its own means of making power into an organic being? Or does a fragment of the Zohar's power just mean a fragment of the result of its production of energy? If so, how does that make the Contact different from any other human requesting energy from Zohar if said human has, for example, a high alignment with a Vessel of Anima? Either way, having only "a fragment" of both powers means the Contact's powers is not equivalent to the full power of Zohar and/or the Wave Existence.
As for the line spoken by the Wave Existence, erroneously transcribed on GameFAQs' Xenogears script as "I am an 'existence' of a higher dimension. A place where time and space is controlled..." This errouneous transcription is even copied and used on the Xenosaga Wiki (Wave Existence page). What the game's script actually says is this:
Wave Existence: "I am an 'existence' of a higher dimension. A place you cannot perceive... But in terms you understand, it is a world where everything acts as kinds of waves... It is the source of this four-dimensional universe... The place where time and space is controlled..."
While this accurate transcription of that part of the script leaves the last sentence somewhat ambiguous regarding whether or not it is referring to its higher dimension or this four-dimensional universe, the Japanese script leaves no doubt as to it referring to this four-dimensional universe. In fact, the sentence itself is poorly translated and should more acurrately be translated as: "It is the place that became the origin of your four-dimensional universe which is governed by space and time." So the Wave Existence having the ability to "control time and space" when in possession of its powers is not at all supported by the original script, which is merely pointing out that our universe is governed by time and space (the four dimensions that the term "four-dimensional universe" is alluding to). Besides, if the Wave Existence's powers entailed controlling time and space then it would differ little from the Zohar's event changing abilities, and it would therefore make little sense for Deus to request more space-time control by utilizing an engine already capable of space-time control. More likely, the Wave Existence's power is fundamentally just a more powerful form of Ether from the higher dimension that it would be easier for the Zohar to tap into to satisfy Deus' energy demands rather than constantly producing Ether from small-scale phenomenon alterations.
As for the Wave Existence being the closest thing to an almighty, monotheistic God in the Xenogears cosmology. This is true, but the world of Xenogears is ultimately a fictional story with its own laws and rules that is not bound by real world religions and their interpretations of God. The idea that God could get sucked down into a reactor in our universe is already proof of that. The fact is, the Wave Existence did not seem to have the power to prevent itself from being pulled down into the Zohar. The Contact, who inherited more of that power than any other character, did not gain undying and indestructible flesh like Cain and would die the same as any other human. In the case of Lacan he did not even die of old age but at the relatively young age of 35 based on the history timeline in Perfect Works. The battle with Ramsus underwater damaged Fei enough that it left him in a temporary coma. Lacan was stopped by humans at the height of his powers as he rampaged around the planet with the Diabolos, presumably fully aware of his powers as he was more focused on that power than any other incarnation of the Contact. Once fully awakened as the Contact, Fei did not simply wipe Deus out of existence with his mind or his own hands. He still used a powerful Gear, so any ideas about Fei not being aware of his full powers doesn't really work either.
In conclusion, although the Wave Existence's power can involve supernatural qualities such as retaining memories of past lives and the ability to possess other people with the mind, there is nothing in the story or Perfect Works that points to this power being anything other than more powerful Ether energy capable of great force and destruction. But even as a potential defensive energy barrier it does not seem to be very effective, since the Contact gets injured, physically dies, and even had to be protected by his mother when this power almost killed him. Having also a fragment of the Zohar's power does not seem to change this either.
But one question that needs to be answered is whether or not Fei still has this power after the Wave Existence returned to its own dimension, or if it took this power back. Since both the game script and Perfect Works seems to suggest that the Wave Existence needed to reverse the process it went through to arrive in our dimension, this implies that it needed to get its power back as part of this reversal. But this is not certain.
Wave Existence: "Since the time I was bound in Zohar, I have always wanted to return to my own dimension... And I came to a conclusion. I had to reverse the process I went through to arrive here."
Perhaps the reason Perfect Works states that only a fragment of the Wave Existence's power (along with a fragment of the Zohar's power) entered the Contact was to provide a reason for why Fei might still have his power by the end of the narrative, despite the Zohar being destroyed and the Wave Existence having returned home. I am sure the Wave Existence would not mind a fragment of its power still remaining with the Contact if that was all he received in the first place.
But what about Elly's will to be a mother figure and her destiny to be with the Contact? Does that process continue or is it removed by the end of Episode V, leaving Elly more independent to have a different will? Would it also mean that Fei and Elly no longer will remember any of their past lives in their next incarnations, and that they may not even be reborn around the same time anymore? If we assume that the previous speculation and conclusions about reincarnation is accurate, then no doubt they would still reincarnate, but without the anomalies associated with the Contact and the Antitype in particular (such as Elly always retaining the same name). But with an Episode VI left to be told we have most likely not seen the end of Fei and Elly's story yet, so perhaps their process of being bound together and recurring exactly like before will continue.
How are some characters capable of teleportation?
Related to the powers of the Contact is the mysterious ability Grahf, Executioner, and Wiseman exhibit when they are seen teleporting from seemingly nowhere in front of other people in the story. It is logical to conclude that the Zohar or the Wave Existence's powers make teleportation possible somehow, but this is never stated in the game or in Perfect Works, and Wiseman (Kahn) would presumably not know how to use the Wave Existence's power (assuming he could even access it through the Grahf spirit). Yet Wiseman also teleports, and in a way that looks slightly different from Grahf's flash of red teleportation, although Grahf also does a different style of teleportation along with Executioner (Miang) at the end of disc 2.
The phenomenon modification power of the Zohar is also not able to explain this mystery in a satisfying way. The way the Zohar works is by utilizing "possible" future events, selecting for these to come through. But instantaneous transfer of living physical substance from one location to another like that is not possible. In other words, teleportation of biological material is not a possible event that can be selected for. And if the Zohar keeps selecting an event with the probability of zero, as would be the case with such teleportation, then the result would be the opening of the Path of Sephirot as page 77 of Perfect Works explains. That is clearly not what happens in the case of teleportation. It seems that when impossible events are attempted, all the Zohar can produce is energy in the form of Ether or accessing the higher dimension.
Thus we are seemingly at a loss to explain this phenomenon of teleportation that these particular characters use. But perhaps it is not teleportation that we are witnessing. Perhaps they are merely cloaked somehow before they appear. Wiseman, for example, is heard speaking before he emerges from nowhere. So it is possible, if not more likely, that he was present at the scene for several minutes before he decided to reveal himself, and this could also be the case with Grahf and Miang. Making themselves invisible seems like something the Zohar's phenomenon modification abilities may be able to handle to a more realistic degree, though through exactly what possible phenomenon remains to be explained.
Why did the will of God known only to Krelian involve bringing humanity with it?
One thing we have not touched on is what the Wave Existence want or may have wanted throughout mankind's existence. In the narrative we only hear from the Wave Existence that it wants to return to its own dimension after becoming bound inside Zohar, but two other desires are implied. The first is its will as defined by Abel, which became the will of Elly, even though the Wave Existence still retained a separate will to return to its own dimension. The second is its will as told by Krelian once the Wave Existence is in the process of returning home, where he implies that the Wave Existence wants humankind to return with it to "the beginning" when everything was waves and nothing more:
Krelian: To go back to when all was one... waves, and nothing else... It is not my -Human's- ego... It is the will of the 'Waves' ...the will of -God-...
And Krelian does not seem to be lying or making this up, since Perfect Works states in his profile that: "...even though he [Krelian] is the only one that understands 'the will of God', unlike Fei and Elly he has not continued from the beginning tied up with a special 'fate'."
By stating that Krelian is "the only one" that understands the will of God, it is further implied that the Wave Existence's desire to return to its own dimension was only temporary and circumstantial, and not its true, "being defining," will. So either the will that Abel defined (that went into Elly) was also not its true will, or this contact merely changed the Wave Existence's will temporarily until it was released from Zohar and perhaps got its original will back. Either way it makes sense for the Wave Existence to have had a will while observing the humans from its higher dimension before it got imprisoned and a human boy gave it a new will.
I have considered a third possibility, namely that Abel's definition also made the Wave Existence proper similar to a mother that wants to envelop humanity within its womb of protection, but then Krelian would not be the only one that knows the Wave Existence's will since it also told Fei that he defined for it such a will. While the Wave Existence's words seems to imply that a 'will' is an attribute that only exists in our four-dimensional universe, the fact that Perfect Works states that it has a will only Krelian knows about implies that a higher dimensional existence also has something very similar to a will.
As for why the Wave Existence may want humans to return to it, perhaps before the birth of our universe the Wave Existence did not feel separate from those waves that became the souls of humans in the new universe. In other words, it may not have wanted those waves to spill away into a new universe in the first place and that this occured by accident. Or maybe whatever looming threat of annihilation the humans are facing, maybe the Wave Existence thought it would be better to bring them back to waves rather than leave them to their fate.
Speaking of this mysterious threat, did Krelian know about why Deus needed to be resurrected within 10,000 years? One conversation with the Gazel Ministry suggests that he knows there is a time limit, but if he knew exactly what the threat was he might have made a stronger argument in his debate with Fei during the Path of Sephirot sequence, and would also better explain why he was onboard with resurrecting Deus before discovering the Wave Existence and modifying his plans. For someone that knew so much about everything else, it seems strange that he would not know. But maybe he knew that thanks to so many humans already having become one with Deus, whatever the threat is may have been temporarily halted, assuming that unifying a large number of human beings into one entity and destroying their independent will was part of the Deus system's urgent aim.
What is the meaning of "Ahnenerbe"?
During the game, Emperor Cain and the Gazel Ministry uses the name or term "Anonelbe" a few times when referring to Fei (the Contact) - a mistranslation of the German word "Ahnenerbe" which means "Ancestral Heritage." For example, Citan says the following:
Citan: "'Anonelbe'... The long awaited man of God, who will take the people born in this world with him to a new horizon. Such is the destiny of the 'Contact'. That is what the emperor called Fei... He did not tell me why he called Fei that though..."
Xenogears: Perfect Works does not elaborate much on this term in Cain's profile pages, only restating that Cain views Fei as this person and that he is trying to find out whether Fei as the Ahnenerbe will free people from the Deus system or destroy the world. Thus it seems logical to conclude that Abel, as an outsider not born from the Deus system, led to the creation of an idea that he was the only person on the planet with the potential to free humans from Deus. Discovering over time that Abel reincarnates, Cain probably asks himself whether Abel's enigmatic nature could still free humans from merging with Deus, especially after feeling regret about trying to murder Abel and accidentally killing Elly in the process. "Ahnenerbe" then likely became a nickname for the recurring Contact, symbolizing a broader hope that he might lead humans to a different future. But then the destruction of the world caused by Lacan happened and made Cain more cautious about whether the Contact could be trusted to free humankind.
This seems simple enough as an explanation for the term. But as usual, the answer does not appear to be quite so simple. Xenogears: Perfect Works does bring up the term "Ahnenerbe" (or Anonelbe) in two other parts of the book in ways that are not quite consistent with the above conclusion. Page 12 of the History chapter uses the phrase "third stage Ahnenerbe" to refer to the humans of the Zeboim civilization, indicating that "Ahnenerbe" (Anonelbe) is also a general term for the new Animus-humans created by Deus, the opposite of the Contact. I have three different translations of the relevant sentence, and none of them indicates a translation error:
"People of this period were known as the Third-Stage Ahnenerbe and were about to come to an end as a generation. [...]
People of this age were simply called the "Third-Stage Ahnenerbe" because humanity had been previously reset twice before."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (Int's translation)
"Humanity, now the third Ahnenerbe, is about to meet its end as a species [...]
The reason humanity is called the third Ahnenerbe is because this type of resetting had been carried out twice in the past."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (Razael's translation)
"For those humans of this era who have become the third Annonelbe their time as this kind is coming to an end. [...]
The reason this era's people are called the third Annonelbe, is because humans had been 'reset' two other times in the past."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (UltimateGraphics' translation)
So what do we make of this? It makes sense that a term that means "Ancestral Heritage" and is a reference to Nazi-Germany's research into racial superiority and origins would be a fitting name for Emperor Cain and the Gazel to give to their people - the new humans born from Deus. At first, before I read this in Perfect Works, I thought that Abel's origin as an older (real) type of human may have been the reason for the term. But it makes more sense for the term to be used for the humans that are intended to become quality parts for Deus. Finally, the term "Ahnenerbe" is also brought up in the book's After Word where the term is ascribed not just to Fei or the humans in general, but to a special new kind of humans that does not mutate by the end:
"And for Cain, Citan and the others represented that possible "new kind" of humans that he had hoped for. And once the resurrection of "Deus" was imminent, Cain knew the odds were high that they wouldn't mutate. [...]
Cain was the one who cut the bonds of 'god', and became a new central figure for the new 'kind', that which is called 'Annonelbe'. He believed 'Annonelbe' would rescue human beings. And so Cain's interpreted Annonelbe -- Fei and the others destroyed 'god.' [...]"
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (UltimateGraphics' translation)
"For Cain, thinking along these lines, the abilities demonstrated by humans such as Citan and his peers as representatives of a new seed were a source of hope. As the resurrection of God, Deus, drew closer, Cain knew there was a high probability their appearance was not due to chance. [...]
In Cain's view, the entity who was supposed to cut the chains of God and to become a new seed at the heart of humanity would be Ahnenerbe, the coming god in the flesh. He believed that Man would find salvation through this Ahnenerbe. And then, God, Deus, was destroyed by Fei and his friends, deemed to be Ahnenerbe, coming god in the flesh by Cain. [...]"
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (Gwendal's translation)
"Ahnenerbe in that context is not Fei alone, but this new kind of human that's deemed to already be out of childhood, which I guess is an spiritual awakening of some sort."
- trexalfa
Back when the After Word had been translated for the first time, I had to request a second translation by Gwendal to make sure everything was translated accurately, since UltimateGraphics is known to have multiple errors in his translation. But it does seem that the term "Ahnenerbe" is indeed used for the people who destroyed Deus and not just Fei, except in Gwendal's translation one can interpret that Cain perhaps starts using the term "Ahnenerbe" more broadly with the passage of time. Since Cain also seems to associate this new kind of humans with those that do not mutate, it makes me wonder whether or not the term "Ahnenerbe" may be related to humans who reincarnates in higher frequency throughout the ages. Perhaps "Ancestral Heritage" is thus referring to old and frequently recurring souls rather than genetic heritage - especially since gene manipulation implies a desire to change genes rather than preserve the heritage.
Is it possible that Cain, who remained alive as one incarnation for 10,000 years, was able to recognize certain humans recurring through multiple lives? That would explain how he could predict their appearance once the Time of the Gospel was approaching. More interesting, however, is the question of how a "new seed" or kind of human could escape this otherwise innevitable annihilation that would befall humans at the Time of the Gospel. Could we perhaps narrow the threat in regards to the time limit down to being caused by a certain other kind of humans - the normal kind of previous humanity? This is similar to what we have speculated previously, but exactly how and why this annihilation would come about, through what phenomenon, and exactly how widespread it would be, remains almost impossible to answer given the few clues we have to work with, but would certainly have been explored in Xenogears Episode I and VI.
More clues may perhaps be gained from looking into the Xenosaga series, though whether or not Xenosaga is a modified reimagining or reboot of Xenogears, or a completely new story with only some references, is a controversial issue. I suppose if Xenosaga involves a time limit, a threat to mankind related to egoic humans, a mysterious boy named Abel, the inclusion of god-like humans dating back to Earth that can explain the immortal substance of Animus, and the attempt of such god-like humans revived in technology or "god-machines" to try to save mankind and reach Earth, then we can conclude that Xenosaga is most likely the former. And if Xenosaga does not include any of these things then it is probably the latter. But we shall examine Xenosaga later.
What is the origin of the Eldridge ship and its super computer 'Raziel'?
One thing that a Xenogears Episode I would certainly have had to explore, is the origin of the enormous "colony ship" that carried Deus and a number of other machines on its way to another star system before crashing mid-flight onto the planet Episode V takes place on. While a mundane origin could be written for this space vessel - already referred to in Xenogears: Perfect Works as the second ship of a Philadelphia Class Super Space Cruiser series of ships - the sheer size of this enormous craft, why a craft of that size would be created, why it had a super computer containing such vast amount of data, and why it carried so many other weapons apart from those belonging to the Deus system, creates a few questions that I think should be answered.
Not only was Attack Land Cruiser Yggdrasil IV and two Excalibur ships onboard the Eldridge, but also other battle class ships. Some other interesting details regarding the Eldridge in Perfect Works are the following bits (using Razael's translation):
"... the Eldridge, a private, ultra-large interstellar spacecraft, is requisitioned to transport Deus to another planet to investigate the cause of the accident. Also on board are the approximately 1.2 million planetary worker and and space colony survivors."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (page 8)
"It would not be unreasonable to say that a spacecraft of the Eldridge's size, designed for long-distance travel, would almost be like a miniature state. Therefore, although it is a civilian vessel, it does possess sizable armaments, which in turn have been heavily upgraded for the transport of Deus."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (page 8)
"Temporarily in charge of the ship for the transport is Captain Shigeyoshi Inoue, part of the military's Technology Research Center and currently assigned to weapons development special duty."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (page 9)
"The Eldridge is temporarily requisitioned by the military for the transport of Deus, and accordingly, 80% of the people on its bridge at the time are military personnel."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~ (page 9)
Judging by this information, it appears the explanation for the enormous size of the Eldridge is because of the need to sustain a large number of people across a vast distance of space, which would almost be like emigrating to a new country or state for the number of years the journey would take. But why would that type of vessel be requisitioned merely to transport a dismantled Deus to another planet for examination? It seems unlikely that the developers of Deus would have to travel a long distance for such a purpose, especially given the urgency of the ongoing interstellar war. Why not place different parts of Deus on three or more separate smaller military ships, and the survivors of Michtam 04β on another vessel, instead of on an enormous vessel designed for long-distance travel? Was there no other space vessels available because of the war?
The impression the Eldridge ship gives off is that it is either a ship carrying a significant portion of the last of humanity or a ship on a special mission to a far-off area of space. But none of this is supported by any information in the game or Xenogears: Perfect Works. In fact, from what is stated in Perfect Works it seems the humans onboard the Eldridge are a rather insignificant portion of that civilization merely taking a small trip to another planet. This suggests a hidden reason could be behind the use of the Eldridge. Perhaps the military was manipulated into using this particular vessel for transport because whomever lent it wanted a long-distance ship so that Deus, once it awoke, could have the means to make it to Lost Jerusalem (Earth) which would definitely require a long-distance flight.
It is interesting that the Eldridge is decribed as being a "private" ship in this translation by Razael, though the translation by Int says the Eldridge was "owned by the 'Enterprise'." Combining the two translations, the indication is that the Eldridge was owned by a private company rather than the military or the Galactic Federation. Perhaps this would bear some significance on the plot and the actors involved in Episode I. It is possible that some relationship exists between this private actor or enterprise and the military's Technology Research Center, such as they may have been a supporter in the development of Deus. The fact that the Eldridge's super computer Raziel would carry so much data on the Deus system, despite it being a top secret project even within the military, would suggest as much.
Speaking of the Raziel super computer, it too seems to be of an unnecessarily huge size for a computer or information storage machine. The general trajectory of computer development is that they are made smaller with the advancement of technology, not larger in size so that by the seventh millennium they would have the size of a skyscraper. Regarding the Raziel computer, Perfect Works says the following:
"The super computer, Raziel, which manages the entire Eldridge, is stored in this block [Mahanon]. [...] Raziel also held data concerning weapons, Deus, life forms in different star systems, and information about different stellar civilizations."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, page 8 (Int's translation)
"The computer is named after the mythical Angel Raziel, who possessed a staggering amount of information and was ranked as special patron to the first human. The database is controlled by an advanced artificial intelligence."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, Glossary, page 69 (Int's translation)
"A computer named after the archangel that was responsible for knowledge, according to the myths. It uses an AI to maintain the database. The name speaks for itself."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, Glossary, page 69 (translation by Lugalbanda)
It is interesting to note how different the translation can sometimes be between even relatively good translators. Hence why I included two different translations of the glossary entry on page 69. But while the brief information from Perfect Works is rather mundane, the information and imagery from the actual game is far more interesting:
Fei: We came to an enormous cavern that was big enough to swallow the whole capital of Aveh. In its center were two gently glowing objects. It was the source of divine wisdom.. It was 'Razael's Tree'. And the cavern itself was a giant computer called Razael. The wisdom of god, hidden within Razael... We found the unthinkable when we accessed its data. A large unmanned strategic weapon and its battalion of terminal interface weapons, travelling from star system to star system. And a gargantuan mothership used to carry them... The creation of the -Malahk- angel... God's army to reign over the vast universe with... And the construction of a divine ark... These weapons were called, 'Yabeh', the inter-planetary invasion weapon system.
The dialogue in the game states that the entire "cavern" is the computer, not just the two huge "glowing objects." We also see that there actually is a small, normal-sized computer terminal that Citan uses to access the information within Raziel, which suggests that this super computer is made up of vastly different-looking component parts. Both the smaller computer terminal, and the "cavern" itself, appears to be of the same technological style, a part of the Eldridge's structure. But the "glowing objects" at the center, known as "Raziel's Tree" and the actual source of "divine wisdom," seems strangely different. Furthermore, the contents of Raziel's Tree is oddly specific to the purpose of Deus, even stating it is intended to "reign over the vast universe" with its angel army, almost as if the data within Raziel is not merely research data but the actual development plans and purpose.
Since "Raziel" is another name that ties into Biblical mythology through Jewish mysticism, could it be possible that these "glowing objects" are another type of Over-Technology that was recreated or perhaps even dates back to ancient Earth? Raziel is the "Angel of Secrets" and also called the "Keeper of All Magic" which could suggest a link to the same supernatural phenomena caused by the Goetia Key. Perhaps it was the Raziel's Tree that responded to the key's activation and caused the central block of the Eldridge to rise from the ocean floor in the narrative? If it is Over-Technology, that would explain its unusual look and size for a computer.
The term "Raziel's Tree" also brings to mind the Tree of Knowledge and the fall of Man, which could tie it to our previous speculations regarding the secret on Earth, the Zohar as a catalyst for life, the association between the Zohar and Over-Technology, the phrase "You shall be as gods" from the fall of Man when Deus awoke, and the god-like biological elements of Animus and Anima that likely are quite old or even ancient. It would make sense for a supernatural Tree of Knowledge in ancient Earth to have been able to create supernatural Over-Technology that became components of the supernatural Deus system, and thus contains data on such "God-Technology" and its purpose. Note, for example, that the data in Raziel contains instructions on how to create the Merkabah ("God's Ark") even though the developers of Deus had not created it yet since a Merkabah was not onboard the Eldridge (and actually would not fit since the Eldridge is only 42 kilometers wide while the Merkabah is 80 kilometers wide). Though, it is perhaps possible that a Merkabah was constructed but destroyed by the military in their effort to shut down Deus.
A Xenogears Episode I could certainly have had a lot to explore if part of the Raziel computer had such an origin. The vast information in Raziel regarding also life forms in different star systems and different stellar civilizations suggests that the private "enterprise" may have had a particular interest in gathering such data for a particular purpose, similar to how the leaders of Solaris were gathering data through memory cubes and other devices in order to manipulate, control, and oversee human beings in preparation for their plans. Perhaps this unnamed "enterprise" would have played a similar antagonistic role in Episode I as Solaris does in Episode V? Also, since Raziel's computer and Machanon were not destroyed in Episode V, perhaps Raziel's Tree would have had an important part to play in Episode VI...
What happened to the civilization in outer space?
How come no one from the civilizations in outer space came looking for the Eldridge, the Zohar, or the Deus system for all of the 10,000 years they had been missing? This is one of the more common questions people have at the end of the narrative of Episode V. And this question becomes even more warranted to ask after reading Xenogears: Perfect Works which states that the Eldridge was only transporting Deus, military personnel, and the survivors of the colony Deus destroyed, from one planet to another. No long distance is implied, and even if the journey would have been long, the Eldridge actually crashes within the same year that it took off from the ruined colony planet (T.C. 4767), so it could not have gotten very far when Deus awoke.
I think Episode I would have had to answer this question in some way. Episode VI might have shown humans from outer space finally arrive on Fei's planet, but to answer why it took at least 10,000 years we would need some type of explanation or reason being set up.
One possible explanation might be that the interstellar war ultimately resulted in very few survivors, especially in that region of space and nearby civilizations. Though since it only took around 4500 years for humans to spread out into these civilizations in the first place, it seems unlikely that no one would still be around in nearby regions after another 4500 years (which would be prior to the Zeboim civilization on Fei's planet). It also seems that Deus was expecting to continue the fight with human civilizations in outer space, though the fact that Miang took her time to reset the Animus-humans over the course of 10,000 years also suggests that she was not concerned that anyone would come across the planet anytime soon. Deus may have known that something had slowed down humanity's progress and the civilizations in space.
Another possibility is that due to the top secret development of Deus and likely the secret research on Zohar before that, along with the private ownership of the Eldridge, no one who really knew about these things survived past T.C. 4767. That would definitely have made it unlikely for anyone to come looking for where the Eldridge crashed. But it still seems unlikely that humans of that civilization and its continued expansion for the next 10,000 years would not accidentally have come across this uncharted planet existing within a year's reach of Michtam 04β.
A third possible explanation could be that this uncharted planet was in fact way off course of any nearby civilization due to Deus' attempt to get to Lost Jerusalem. When inputting the "transfer coordinate codes," Deus also engages the ship's "space displacement" mode ("space transfer mode" in the original Japanese) which looks like some type of wormhole opening up in front of the ship as displayed on a monitor shown in the opening movie. What if, before Captain Inoue destroys the Spinal Shaft coupling bolts to render the ship immobile, the Eldridge actually made it half-way to Lost Jerusalem before falling to the uncharted planet? This still presents us with similar issues as with the previous theories, but a combination of all three possibilities might be the most convincing explanation.
The idea that Fei's planet actually is Earth has also occured to me, and that perhaps the Eldridge did have time to perform that "space displacement" mode before it was immobilized by the Captain. But with both theories there is little support for the idea, visually or otherwise, that the Eldridge during the opening movie ever entered into or was flying through some type of wormhole, hyperspace, or lightspeed travel before becoming immobile. And if Fei's planet really was Earth then there should have been a massive amount of remnants of a previous civilization there, especially since Perfect Works seems to emphasize that no sudden changes had taken place in the actual planetary environment (such as a nucler war) when humanity left. Yet Isaac Balthasar could not even find human fossils older than 10,000 years, much less entire cities. The Earth time standard of 24 hours per day and 365.26 days per year also does not quite match up with Fei's planet when running the numbers on the time-clock in Kim's facility in the year 9999 with the year Zeboim was destroyed, as examined in part 2 of this story analysis, even though it is not far off.
Speaking of wormholes and hyperspace though, it does seem strange that something like that is not utilized by the civilization in outer space. Instead they build massive ships to sustain them for long-distance travel in a more old fashion way. And if the Eldridge does have some kind of advanced space displacement flight mode that can open a wormhole or take it to a hyperspace mode for a faster or more instant transfer across vast distances, then why was it built so large for long-distance travel and why does the Eldridge not use this displacement mode to get to its destination in the first place? Is it possible that only Deus could open up a wormhole through space due to its connection to the Zohar?
Are Ramsus and Emeralda immortal characters?
With Deus and the Zohar being destroyed at the end of Episode VI, the likelihood of Fei, Elly, and Miang still being around thousands of years from the end of Episode V is highly unlikely. At least in the forms we are familiar with. But what about Ramsus who is a copy of the previously undying Emperor, or Emeralda the nanomachine colony that has already existed for 4000 years? To provide the third broader story arc in the Xenogears universe with a compelling narrative, a backstory of at least a few thousand years would be required, since both Episode I (the first broader story) and Episode V (the second broader story) have long backstories covering several thousands of years.
Ramsus, when not neurotic, was an idealistic reformer who had an interest in changing the structure of society, which might have come into play in an Episode VI. But given the dystopic nature of all the previous episodes, and the need for drama in the story, it is unlikely that an ideal society will be formed in the long run. As for Emeralda, she was created to be a hope for mankind and it really seems like her story was just beginning. She is the Contact's and the Antitype's only child, and was created by analyzing both of their genetic patterns according to Xenogears: Perfect Works. The book also hints that she is important to humanity's future:
"When Emeralda visits the place with Fei where she was formed by him long ago, she recovers all her memories; Her time with Kim, her own birthday and the death of Elhaym who had entrusted her hopes to Emeralda, and the last time she sees Kim, Emeralda's consciousness undergoes a transformation.
Emeralda is the envisioned "child" that both Kim and Elly wished for. Even after she awakens in the present, recognizing Fei as Kim, she unconsciously acts as that child, one that relies on her parents. However, when she recognizes the fact that Kim and Elly are already dead, her own will becomes independent. In accordance with the original program governing her growth process she loses the childlike nature, and the program reacts unconsciously to begin reforming her body.
Emeralda's body growth separates itself from spiritual reliance on Kim, and her own established personality is revealed. And so, if Emeralda has been entrusted with a new future for human beings, couldn't it be said that her awakening as a woman is that very thing?"
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~
If Emeralda's name happens to be a reference to or inspired by Queen Emeraldas (by space opera manga writer Leiji Matsumoto) rather than Sailor Moon's Esmeraude, then perhaps she will become the leader of some group in the future. Maybe she will even have a similar position as Emperor Cain had, becoming a kind of world leader after thousands of years. Given that her personality seems to correlate to a Type 4 in Enneagram personality classification, I will cite some interesting bits from the Personality Types book used by the writers that may be worth keeping in mind when reflecting on what Emeralda's future role may have been in an Episode VI:
"In healthy Fours, [...] the rich life of the unconscious becomes accessible and is given shape. More than any other personality type, healthy Fours are the bridge between the spiritual and the animal in human nature because they are so aware of these two sides of themselves. They sense in themselves the depths to which human beings can descend, as well as the heights to which they can be swept up. No other personality type is as habitually aware of the potentials and predicaments of human nature: human beings are spiritual animals occupying an uneasy place between two orders of existence. Fours sense both sides of their potentially conflicting natures, and they suffer intensely or are ecstatic because of them.
"Fours can be among the most life-enhancing of the personality types, bringing good out of evil, hope from hopelessness, meaning from absurdity, and saving what appears to be lost. [...] To be able to renew the self constantly is the highest form of creativity, a kind of "soul-making," which requires a higher state of integration than making a painting or a book or a dance. This is the state the other personality types can learn from healthy Fours, [...] Healthy Fours are concerned with being true to themselves as individuals, even at the risk of being censured by those who value tradition or convention over self-actualization. [...] Thus, just as healthy Fours want to be true to themselves, they also want others to be true to themselves. [...] Fours willingly allow others to find their own way in life without trying to control them, one reason why they make good parents, friends, listeners, and therapists."
- Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery (1987)
We already saw some of these qualities of healthy type 4 in Elly, since a healthy type 2 connects to healthy type 4. But it would be interesting to see a healthy type 4 possess these traits, such as using creativity to help humans reach higher states of psychological integration. Healthy type 4 also takes on traits of healthy type 1, the reformer, which could potentially make Emeralda be interested in improving human civilization while guided by strong principles, not unlike Ramsus. Perhaps they could even team up.
What would be the themes and messages of Episode I and Episode VI?
Being a continuation of the story as presented in Episode V, naturally future episodes would explore similar themes. If the themes of Episode V were the clash of different human wills, of freedom versus duty (or independence versus unification), of oppressive authoritarianism and social control, of overcoming grief and sadness, and of Western psychoanalysis, religion, philosophy, science, and anthropology; then it is reasonable to assume that these themes would be explored further in Episode I and VI to some extent. Same with the fundamental message that human beings are flawed and imperfect, and that true interaction and meaning in relationships comes through mutual support - becoming whole.
Yet, at the same time, Episode I and Episode VI cannot be the exact same story even on a thematic level. Xenogears Episode V covered the themes of freedom from unification, of oppressive authoritarianism and social control, of overcoming grief and sorrow, and of becoming whole, pretty thoroughly. For example, it would not make a lot of sense to have a similar type of imagery as the one-winged angel statues in Episode I which takes place in outer space and long before the Nisan religion was created. But some references to the same idea might have appeared briefly, just like Episode V has many other ideas and themes explored briefly that may have been explored even more thoroughly in other episodes.
If the stories of Episode I and VI were each intended to be on a similar scale and scope as all of Episode II-V, then they would have to explore some new fresh ideas while continuing the themes and messages that defines Xenogears as a consistent work, and also elaborate on things that were only briefly touched upon in Episode V that could use some further exploration. For example, I could see the theme of human wills clashing and the message of humans being flawed and imperfect constitute a consistent theme throughout all the episodes. Although touched upon to a large degree in Episode V, I think ideas from Western psychoanalysis, religion, philosophy, science, and anthropology could continue to be explored in other episodes.
Anthropology, the scientific study of humanity and of the past, is definitely a theme that was set up to be explored further in Episode I given that Xenogears: Perfect Works makes several references to the origin of life on Earth. The History section of the book also makes a reference to the A.D. era of humanity with a reference to "the last Messiah to historically appear," before this previous calendar is changed into "Transcend Christ" once humankind aims to leave Earth, combining both the themes of anthropology and religion:
"An era in which the calendar was designated with the name of the last Messiah to historically appear. With the left behind words of an extraordinary prophet ending in unfounded worry, the Third Millennium began, with mankind being able to face a new period of 1,000 years. It was Year 2001 A.D."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, page 7 (translation by trexalfa)
"2510 A.D.
The Immigration into Outer Space Plan, as a project with a scale that encompasses the entire world, executes. Aiming to start the immigration 15 years later, the "Parliament" is founded as the organization for its administration. The name of the calendar is changed to T.C. (Transcend Christ), with single years until then, 365 days, being established 1 star cluster standard year."
- Xenogears: Perfect Works~The Real Thing~, page 7 (translation by trexalfa)
What significance the new calendar name "Transcend Christ" has to do with the backstory of Episode I remains unknown. It does not seem to be all that relevant to the mysteries that we have examined thus far, but if it is brought up in the Episode I section of Perfect Works it must have some relevance. For now, it does fit in with the theme of religion and anthropology, but whether it would have some importance to the story beyond that remains uncertain. At the very least we should take it into consideration. If Fei (the Contact) is set up to be a Christ-like figure in Episode VI as Ahnenerbe, could there be some link between the new "coming god in the flesh" and the original, historical Messiah (Jesus Christ) back on Earth? What would a being such as the Wave Existence have thought about such a figure becoming important in human history?
What would be the characters of Episode I and Episode VI, and what characters could tie all episodes together?
When looking at the synopsis of the episodes in Xenogears: Perfect Works it is easy to forget that a sequel to Episode V would have to work as a large RPG video game with a cast of around nine playable characters, a number of antagonists to fight against, big robots to pilot, a huge world to explore, and a battle system with Ether spells and enemy encounters that would need to rival and live up to the first game in the series. But what could be done with Episode II that mainly revolves around Abel's revolt against Cain on a primitive planet with a small population of humans and no Gears, or Episode III that takes place in an urban environment similar to our world before humans had evolved the ability of Ether? Presumably this is why Takahashi originally intended to release those two episodes in a different media, and start with Episode IV, before all of those episodes became a part of Episode V as flashbacks.
But with Episode I and VI there would be less restrictions, and thus they would be the most suitable to be made into large-scale sequels rivaling Episode V. Of course, Takahashi himself implies as much in the previously quoted "Director's Comment" from the same page as the episodes outline in Perfect Works. However, Episode I would still present a challenge in what kind of enemy monsters would have been featured as part of the game, given that the episode takes place in an advanced space civilization setting. Since it focuses on the outbreak of an interstellar war there could be plenty of enemy soldiers to fight, as well as robots and other mechanical enemies. But would there be something similar to human mutants like the Wels and other gene manipulated enemies in Episode V? Would the final boss again be Deus and its interface weapons or something else? What kind of playable characters and antagonists would there be?
Perhaps more importantly, what characters could recurr and tie all the episodes together? At first glance it seems the obvious answer would be the Contact and the Antitype (Fei and Elly) since all of the middle episodes centers around them. But in an Episode I there would be no Elly until the very end and the Contact as Abel could only have a minor appearance at best. It is highly unlikely that Abel would have been a playable character, and he would certainly not have been the main protagonist. Similarly, if Episode VI would take place thousands of years after Episode V then it is unlikely that the Contact and the Antitype would still be around given that they appear to have cut the bonds with the entities that caused them to recurr in that destined fashion. A general reincarnation could still have them be reborn, but they would not remember their previous lives and would not have any special fate, not even to keep getting together. They would essentially be in the same position as any other human cast member from Episode V.
I am sure some people will argue that Episode VI could have taken place right after Episode V, since on the timeline it is located pretty close to Episode V and some translations of that synopsis suggests it takes place shortly after Episode V. But I think the point on the timeline is meant to imply that the time right after Episode V is merely where its larger story starts, but the actual year that game would have been set would have been much further into the future. Otherwise, as a playable RPG worthy to follow the first game, it would have been severely limited given that most of the humans on that planet are gone by the end and the Gears no longer work. The backstory of Episode V (the second main story arc) similarly starts right after Episode I (with the Eldridge crashing), but the present day in Episode V is set 10,000 years later.
So are there any other characters that could potentially recurr across thousands of years from early on in Episode I to late in an Episode VI? Given that such characters would need to have something special about them, similar to the supernatural forces that preserved Abel and Elly as special characters throughout 10,000 years, it would make sense for god-like characters like the Wave Existence, Miang, Emperor Cain, and the Gazel Ministry to have existed in some form prior to Episode II. The Wave Existence is a given, but it is not a human character. The Gazel Ministry were a group of interchangeable men that would not be very compelling as recurring characters. Emperor Cain, however, with his powers and knowledge about there being a time limit for Deus to resurrect itself, could have existed prior to Episode II in some form as part of Deus, and another form even before that if concepts such as reincarnation, immortal flesh, and resurrecting human data and spirits in machines would have continued in Episode I. The only problem with Emperor Cain is that he is killed during Episode V, but that might not prevent him from returning in a new form given that the Gazel Ministry could be resurrected after their death.
The best candidate, however, would be Miang who must have existed during Episode I in some form and would surely have been featured as a character during that story to show the origin of Deus, even if only as an artificial intelligence. But as we have speculated, given many of the otherworldly and supernatural features of the Deus system, Miang's origin is most certainly more than merely being an artificial intelligence. And unlike Emperor Cain we do not know exactly what happened to Miang at the end of Episode V.
Since the Animus and Anima are organic or "living" substances having god-like properties, while also representing the Gnostic concept of male and female pairs that heavily features as a theme in Episode V, it would have been fitting if this concept - through these two mysterious substances that may once have had a male and female form before their flesh was used to create components for Deus - would have been specific characters recurring throughout all six episodes in different forms. Though the only two male and female characters that seems linked to the original Animus and perhaps Anima in Episode II-V are Emperor Cain and Miang, they both get fairly little exposure during the narrative. Nor are they linked to this Jungian and Gnostic theme in any visible way. But perhaps Episode I and VI would have made us look at them differently. Or maybe having characters that recur in each broad story arc would not have been as necessary as Fei and Elly's recurrance through the middle episodes makes it seem? Or maybe, through reincarnation, all the major characters would recur in some way?
What would be the story structure of Episode I and Episode VI?
In order to maintain a consistent style that defines the work Xenogears and distinguishes it from other works, a similar format and story structure would have to be utilized for the sequels to make it feel like you are still playing and experiencing a Xenogears game and not something else. Simply continuing the story is not enough, unless you make some sort of spin-off or side story. For example, all the six original episodes in the Star Wars film series - part of the inspiration for Xenogears' division into six episodes - began with the same text crawl followed by a similar three act structure involving recurring musical themes and big battles towards the end of each episode. From start to finish you never question whether you are watching a Star Wars movie because the style and tone is consistent between all the episodes, even if the plot, characters, and some of the themes are different in each film.
Thus unless Takahashi was willing to risk alienating his audience and the integrity of the work, Episode I and Episode VI would have continued with a very similar style and format to the way the story is told in Episode V (as well as how the game plays). In other words, you would have had a narrative that plays out somewhat similar to the one I have examined for Xenogears (Episode V) in the previous two pages of this story analysis. I have attempted to illustrate this in the diagram above by placing the hypothetical Episode I and Episode VI on each side of Episode V using a very abreviated summary of Episode V's story structure.
For one thing, given the long backstory of Episode I, it would make sense to open that story with a similar opening movie as the one seen in Xenogears set in the distant past, along with another epigraph from the Bible or some other relevant influential work to set the tone. Episode I could of course begin without an opening movie set thousands of years in the past, but unconsciously the audience would feel that something is off compared to the first Xenogears and it would be a missed opportunity.
It would be most interesting for the opening movie of Xenogears Episode I to show us Earth in the story's past, either when Zohar created life, or the discovery of the Zohar in 2001, or perhaps the global emigration from Earth in A.D. 2510, since these time periods are all teased in Xenogears: Perfect Works. If you ask me, since it would be a sequel to the first Xenogears (which I assume would always be the intended starting point despite being Episode V), I think that when Zohar created life or when it was discovered or rediscovered in 2001 would be the most interesting and epic choice since we would already be familiar with the Zohar from the end of the first game, thus giving us something familiar that connects the two narratives while creating a lot of mystery and intrigue.
Starting Episode I on a planet and then have the story be set out in space would also make it a bit new and refreshing by inverting the contrast between the opening movie and the present day period, since Xenogears started in space with the opening and then the present day period starts in an Earth-like village (going from futuristic sci-fi intro to something resembling Earth's past). Similarly, I assume the opening movie of Episode VI would also have begun on a planet - Fei's planet - right after Episode V and then have the present day setting once more out in space thousands of years in the future.
Then you would need a set up showing us the everyday life of the main protagonist before an inciting incident, likely involving an enemy attack of some sort since these episodes would all be RPGs, which then forces the main protagonist into the long adventure with gradual and slow rising action. It is unlikely that Fei or some incarnation of him would be the main protagonist in Episode I or VI since he already had a complete hero's journey and psychological exploration in Episode V, so I would expect each of the three main episodes to have a different main protagonist with a different Enneagram Type neurosis to explore. When Takahashi and his team was still trying to get Xenogears Episode I off the ground before leaving Square, some of the main characters had actually already been conceptualized, and small details from back then, such as pictures from Kunihiko Tanaka's website, suggests the main character would have been a female character this time.
Since Xenogears is a mystery story to a large extent, it follows that Episode I and Episode VI would have had a lot of mystery to explore as well which would give rise to revelations and plot twists starting around the mid-point of the story. The protagonists would also have to face a grotesque and dark enemy force of some kind, to keep the plot exciting and suitably dramatic, and get some kind of upgrade for your character or their machine in some way so that they can become even more powerful in battle. Presumably the main characters would have mechs to ride, and likely they would still have been called "Gears" given the title of the work. There would be a low point of seeming hopelessness for the characters, possibly an end-of-civilization type event, and of course a resolution (at least for the main protagonist).
Related to the unveiling of mystery in the story, we would also likely have gotten more elaborations on the cosmic laws and world structure of the Xenogears universe in an Episode I and VI along with the scientific technology of those vast time periods. Things that could be explored are the technology used for space travel in Episode I, such as the Eldridge's space displacement mode, or the mysterious "Cain space" in an Episode VI. An explanation for how reincarnation actually works, not just how some characters can retain memories of previous lives, would also be compelling and could elaborate on the "vast nebulous" described by Fei. The peculiar nature of the Zohar and the biological Animus and Anima elements could also be related to certain cosmic laws and the structure of the universe rather than human or alien science.
Finally, we would probably have seen more references to popular culture and cinema in Episode I and VI, as well as more similarities to the Star Wars films and 2001: A Space Odyssey. And if Episode I continued to borrow ideas from the horror genre, then I think it would have been cool if the process of making the Animus or Persona organic element come alive for Deus' creation had involved an unorthodox, Frankenstein-esque scientific technology with references to that novel. Especially if the nature of the seemingly supernatural organic elements within Deus involved a process of reanimation.
It is unfortunate that we never got Episode I and Episode VI of Xenogears, but I hope this examination will help piece together some ideas of what they may have been about based on the available information and from trying to understand the original work. Next I will examine the Xenosaga series, not because it has "Xeno-" in the title and not because it is another work by Tetsuya Takahashi, but because of an interesting statement Takahashi once gave in an interview all the way back in 2001:
"Xenogears ended up differently from how I envisioned it. So we [Monolith Soft] have decided to hit the reset button and start all over again with a science-fiction [story], which will be presented through a series of episodes encompassing the beginning to the end of the universe. There will be six episodes planned in all, all of which are divided into three major parts."
- Tetsuya Takahashi, GameSpot Xenosaga Preview (2001)
As a Xenogears fan, it is because of this statement, and only because of this statement, that I will examine the Xenosaga series next. Based on this statement it seems that Tetsuya Takahashi, the writer and director of Xenogears, was not entirely satisfied with how that original work turned out. Referring to Xenosaga as "hitting the reset button" and still maintaining a large timeline of our universe, which it would have to do if it were to encompass "the beginning to end of the universe," implies a work similar in style and scope as Xenogears but improved. Certainly Xenogears Episode I goes all the way back to the origin of life with the Zohar, and the Zohar itself dates back to the birth of the universe. It therefore makes sense that Xenogears too was intended to explore our four-dimensional universe from its beginning to its end.
Throughout this entire story analysis I have often pointed out inconsistencies and potential problems with the story, to the point I made an observation that the narrative of the game at times feels like a first draft. Admittedly an incredible first draft, but still a first draft. As such there is a possibility that Takahashi wrote himself into a corner in some places, needing to get out of them in convoluted ways in order to tell the remaining story. For one thing, having a six episode series where part 1, 5 and 6 are enormous, while part 2, 3 and 4 are rather insignificant in comparison, is very confusing and messy. It would then make some sense to look at Xenosaga as a "second draft" of the story. However, a second draft can differ quite a bit from a first draft, so we should probably not expect the exact same story. Furthermore, the Xenosaga series is also incomplete, so we might not be able to figure out the true relationship between the two works. Still, in 2020, Hirohide Sugiura said that:
"A concept for Xenogears 2 was started after [the first game] but Square was making large investments in the film business at the time, and it was very difficult to produce internally. We chose the path of starting a business [Monolith Soft] so that we could make this concept [Xenogears 2] a reality, one way or another."
- Hirohide Sugiura, Uncovering the Origins of Monolith Soft (2020)
If you are a Xenogears purist then I guess this is where we part ways. But for those who are also interested in the Xenosaga series, there will be more examination regarding what Xenogears may have been intended to explore with Episode I and VI in other parts of this study guide as we examine it side by side with what we got from Xenosaga.
Xenogears Story Analysis: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
