Xenogears Retrospective Part 2: The Morality of Violence

In part 2 of this retrospective I examine how each playable character relates to the theme of the morality of violence. I will be talking about events that happen throughout the game, so anyone who doesn't want to see any spoilers for the game should avoid reading this article.

Spoiler Warning

Why do you fight?

This is probably the earliest theme that is presented in Xenogears. It's introduced within the first couple hours of play and nearly every major character you meet is an exploration into a different answer to this question. I will preface this by saying I'm not going to be going into every aspect of each character's back story or motivation, only what I feel is directly relevant to this theme.

Fei Fong Wong

Early in the game Fei is portrayed as a very peaceful character. Our first image of the character is him in a quiet town painting, awaiting the wedding of his two closest friends; even after his town is caught in the middle of a bloody battle between gigantic death machines he is extremely hesitant to actually fight. After the introduction and his banishment we are left with a very unusual protagonist – one who actively avoids combat. Despite his best efforts he constantly finds himself in situations where seemingly everything around him is pushing him to fight.

Every time Fei meets a new major character he seems to get caught up in their struggle. Throughout most of the early game Fei is extremely vocal about refusing their call to action, consistently questioning why he should fight and why everyone around him seems so intent on fighting. He even goes as far to accuse some of enjoying fighting. Initially he is the pacifist answer to the question posed by the theme - he simply does not wish to fight.

Elhaym Van Houten

Elly is a bit of a special case for this theme as she is used to explore not only multiple answers to this question but conflicting answers. Initially she is a member of the military force Gebler (which is the special military of Solaris) and serves as an exploration into being ordered to fight. Her orders to fight routinely come into conflict with her basic nature, forcing her to make tough choices in how to resolve the conflicting motivations.

• She is one of the gear pilots that had to make an emergency landing in Lahan (Fei's village at the start of the game), thus triggering the catastrophe responsible for sending Fei out into the world. Upon hearing of the total destruction of Lahan she impulsively lashes out at Fei, blaming him for getting into the gear at all while hiding behind her orders to kill all surface dwellers (“Lambs”) that she encounters. However upon further reflection (and being forced to temporarily ally with Fei) it's revealed that she is in general much more tolerant of surface dwellers than most Solarians, and she chooses to defy orders and leave Fei and Citan alive (they met and parted in the middle of a deep forest, who's going to know anyway?)
• During the first attempt to retake the Aveh capitol, Fei and Elly encounter each other while Elly is under strict orders to take out the rebel group Fei is fighting with. Effectively pinned between her orders and her aversion to attacking Fei she partially escapes the decision by taking an experimental drug that brings out natural aggressive tendencies. Fei then subdues Elly without harming her, forcing the conflict between her orders and nature to end in a stalemate once again with no real choice made in either direction.
• During an attack by Gebler on the Kislev capitol city Nortune, Elly is running protection for the main weapon when she encounters Fei once again (who is trying to route the attack in order to save civilian lives). This time her orders are at odds with not only the aversion to fight Fei but also with the aversion for being party to thousands of innocent civilian casualties. After another confrontation with Fei she finally decides that fighting to protect people is more important than fighting to follow orders.

From this point Elly goes through a similar growth as Fei, questioning what is and isn't worth fighting for. She goes through a period of uncertainty as she must deal with the fact that fighting alongside Fei (and thus in alignment with her basic nature) often means fighting against her former friends, allies, and even family. As the story progresses two fundamental changes occur in Elly's character, both resulting in different explorations to the question of why she fights.

Stop questioning my analysis, you're just a video game character!

First, she has an awakening of sorts as a “mother” archetype for humanity. A virus is released to the world that causes severe mutations in humans, the primary symptoms being extreme pain and short life expectancy that is only alleviated by consuming the flesh of less mutated humans. Groups appeared offering to help those who were mutated when in fact they were simply combining all of the mutated flesh into powerful biological weapons. Upon discovering this Elly begins to shut down these groups individually, imploring those seeking help to gather at Nisan for actual help. Very quickly she adapts into a symbol of hope, religious icon, and mother figure to all of humanity. At that point her reason for fighting changes from protecting a group of people to protecting humanity itself.

Elly's second major change was falling in love with Fei. This motivation is immediately at odds with her new-found maternal instincts – Fei and party push into a dangerous situation and Elly must choose whether or not to follow. Her love for Fei pushes her to go as she can't stand the thought of being separated from him or the idea that he might die, however her position as a symbol of hope pushes her to stay out of harm's way. Again she is presented with this conflicting motivation and choice multiple times:

• Fei explicitly asks Elly to stay behind after they confess their love for each other. This is painted partially as Fei recognizing her importance as a symbol and partially as concern for her safety. Reluctantly Elly agrees to stay behind.
• Fei and party are subsequently captured and Elly is issued an ultimatum that she must either give herself up or they will be executed, causing another conflict between her motivations. Despite being advised against it by a handful of her past friends she gives into her love and goes to save Fei, identifying it as the “selfish” choice.

It's also worth noting that there are additional motivations for fighting hinted at in the scarce material shown for past incarnations of Elly (such as fighting to protect your child), however these events aren't explained in enough detail to really dive into them.

Citan Uzuki

Citan is extremely knowledgeable about both technology and the world and serves primarily as a guide for Fei once he joins your party. He routinely comes to Fei's aid in dangerous situations, providing him with advice, assistance, or even a gear. He frequently pushes Fei to accept the power necessary to defend himself and overcome his overly pacifist inclinations.

Late in the game we discover that Citan is actually from Solaris and is watching Fei under orders to determine if he is a threat. Citan must protect Fei and himself from harm throughout the game and serves to represent the idea of fighting for personal protection and security.

Bartholomew Fatima

Bart is initially introduced as the leader of a gang of sand pirates raiding a military transport that Fei and Citan are being held prisoner on. Once Fei and Citan escape Bart mistakes their gear as a new military prototype ripe for the taking, so he attacks despite protestations from Fei. Some quicksand and dungeon crawling later you become temporary allies and learn that Bart is in actuality the rightful heir to the throne of Aveh (which had been usurped by Shakhan). Although he is operating as a pirate his “hideout” doubles as a safe house for refugees and civilians that had to flee the capitol, and his raids serve to provide supplies for his people.

To put it simply, he is forced to use violence to ensure basic survival and freedom for his subjects. He fights to protect his people.

Are you sure? Because you've tried to pick a fight with me like 6 times already...

On top of all that, his cousin/fiancee/head of a peaceful religious order is currently being held captive by Shakhan. Bart needs Fei's help to free her, which comes into direct conflict with Fei's initial personality in two ways. First, it's implied that Fei is largely a complete pacifist in that he believes violence is never appropriate unless you are in immediate danger – however now he is forced to confront a situation where premeditated violence is necessary in order to ensure the long term well being of a group of people. Second, Fei is asked directly to assist despite the fact that it is not his own personal well being that is being threatened. This forces him to address the question of if it can be acceptable to fight on behalf of another when they lack the ability to fight on their own.

Ricardo Banderas

You first meet Rico in the Nortune prison, where he is the reigning champion of the battling arena. You eventually learn that Rico has been in the prison since he was a child and that the only way to scrape together a decent living inside the prison block is to participate in the battling arena. As a result of growing up in such an environment Rico believes that fighting skill is the primary measure of worth and that fighting to make a living is acceptable.

Due to the fact that he is a demi-human he isn't accepted into the society, so he has opted to remain in the prison despite having earned pardons from the battling tournaments. Before Fei arrives he is stuck in a situation where he must fight to maintain a place in society.

Billy Lee Black

When Billy was a child his father left and his mother was killed by wels (depicted as bloodthirsty monsters), with Billy and his sister Primera being narrowly saved by Bishop Stone. Stone is a member of the Etone (a subsidiary of Ethos, one of the two major religious groups) and Billy comes to idolize him, eventually joining the Etone as well. With both parents out of the picture Billy became responsible for taking care of Primera, thus Billy continues to train to have the skill to protect her.

Everybody knows that blue palette swapped humans are evil.

Billy has also set up an orphanage in his old house, offering a refuge and protection. He is forced into a paternal figure for Primera and embraces it, becoming a surrogate father for all of the children at his orphanage. When we are introduced to Billy he has assumed a role where he fights to protect his family.

Maria Balthasar

When Maria was a little girl she and her parents were kidnapped by Solaris. Maria and her mother were held captive to force her father Nikolai to work on experimental gears. Nikolai created the gear Seibzehn and programmed it to escape with Maria back to their home of Shevat. Despite being so young she utilizes Seibzehn to protect Shevat from attack, acting as a guard sentry for the flying city.

Shortly after Fei and party get to Shevat a Solaris attack fleet arrives led by Achtzehn, the sister gear of Seibzehn. During the battle it's revealed that Nikolai was brainwashed and forced not only to create Achtzehn but to have his mind and body fused into the gear in the process. Maria is forced to destroy Achtzehn in order to protect Shevat, and subsequently asks to join Fei in their fight against Solaris so she can avenge her father.

Emeralda Kasim and Chu-Chu

Neither Emeralda nor Chu-Chu have particularly fleshed out motivations when they are introduced. Emeralda is essentially a child with almost no past memories, whereas Chu-Chu is never given a full back story at all. Both characters' initial motivation to fight with the party stem from their desire to help Fei - Emeralda's father was a previous incarnation of Fei, and Chu-Chu proclaims that she is in love with Fei (although it is never really addressed further in the game).

I hope you all enjoyed this exploration into one of the more prominent themes in Xenogears. If you have anything to add comment away, and check back later for part 3 of my retrospective where I'll be diving into Fei as a metaphor for the id, ego, and superego.