The terms Pneuma, Ontos, and Logos also have their roots in pre-Socratic philosophy, where many tried to find some kind of “basic material of existence”. Some tried to be more scientific, theorizing about a material that was very close to what we’d later call atoms. However, many became more Spiritual, with one stating that the origin of all life (as well as the end) was fire, and destruction as a result. This led to the theory of the Logos.

Great video! As a huge Christian I really enjoyed seeing much of it here and learning some more things about the game myself!

Another reference I think I found is Mythra's name. In Zoroastrianism, there is an angel named Mithra who is a mediator between heaven and earth and who is also associated with the sun. This fits perfectly with Mythra since she comes from Elysium and her element is light.

Also, you mentioned Argentum/Argent/Silver/Greed, but the localised names of the Titans have links to the sins as well. Gormott~Gourmand: French for Gluttony Uraya~Urayamu: Japanese for Envy Mor Ardain~Ardán: Gaelic for Pride Indol~Indolence: English for Sloth Tantal~Tantalise: English for Lust Torna~Toorn: Dutch for Wrath

I've always seen Malos' colour as evil, as purple in Japan and sometimes even Western cultures is associated with evil, and perhaps Nomura was just told to make a main villain and wasn't given much guidance, however I think the religious red and blue works too, maybe even better, if not perhaps obscure. Something interesting I find about Klaus' roles, in XC1 and XC2, is how they are essentially opposites. The latter is worshiped and the former is hardly even known about. As for their outlooks, though, it's much the same, even if Zanza is a lot more aggressive about it, with XC2 Klaus appearing to choose to ignore his creations with no care if Alrest's inhabitants die, and Zanza, well, being Zanza. random tidbit about XC2 Klaus as well, he lives under a church

You have a gift for analysis, you can see the effort you squeezed into this video ooze out, this video is a well constructed essay, every second of this video is pure gold

I'm from Argentina, and House of Selosia is very similar to the spanish word "Celo" or "Celos" in plural. The meaning of that is jealousy, "a jealous person" is "una persona celosa", and it fits neatly with the Envy paradigm.

Hmm. Malos purple color is a subtle callback that I'm not sure is inherently religious. Well, first of all, malos and pnuema represent to quote my man Keatsv, "the color schemes of the aegises are a clear reference to jungian interpretations of the alchemical processes with malos as the nigredo, mythra the albedo, and pyra the rubedo and of course finally the "chymical wedding" of red and white that finally results in the ultimate goal of pneuma" But Malos purple is also a subtle callback to a certain Xenogears character. I wont explain how exactly they are thematically connected for the sake of spoilers, but it's a callback to a certain purple haired character you witness in the opening cutscene of xenogears. Otherwise to use slang, Malos is really cast as "evil Jesus". Jesus is often called the Word Incarnate, or the Word made flesh, the Truth, and he asserted he was of divinity. Similarly Malos kind of asserts in Torna DLC that he is the truth, he destroy's Indol's most precious treasure and claims he is of divinity. Loosely speaking, he is the Son of God, the Architect, his character arc revolves around "laying truth bare for all to see" as he wanted to do to the Tornan titan, he kept calling out Amalthus for not being true to himself, he kept edging mythra to accept the "truth" cause he believed at the time the truth was they were meant to be the Architect's "Will Incarnate"( another callback to Jesus). He even continues this sentiment in Nia not accepting the truth of her identity. His very nature is to embody truth which he seeks out in both storylines, and Malo's journey in Torna at least is heavily reminiscent of a twisted parallel to Jesus spreading the Architect/Gods will and truth. In just Malos alone, there's a lot of heavy religious parallels to Jesus of the Trinity, but as an evil individual, cause in the end, his perception of the truth was corrupted by Amalthus from the start. Also interesting to note that Malos carried at one point or another, the hopes and dreams of the Architect, Amalthus, and Jin. He was the instrument of salvation like Jesus. (Also he t-posed off the tornan building and that's 100000% obviously a callback to the crucifixion of Jesus {issa joke}).

You are a legend. I've wished to compile the christian references for some time now. I find Takahashi and Xeno's use of religion and religious mythos really interesting.

Hey, Congratulations for the video! As a Greek I would like to share some insight. Πνεύμα is pronounced as Pnevma. It does not, by any means, mean ''Breath'', or soul, but it means Spirit. Pyra-Mythra-Pnevma i believe are inspired from Orthodox Christianity where God-Christ-Holy Spirit are the same entity. The word for breath is ''πνοή'' - ''Pnoi'' and it is very similar to Pnevma. The word for soul is ''Ψυχή'' - ''Psichi''. Also the way you pronounce Neuma means ''Nod'' in Greek :D The word for Nod is ''Nevma'' - ''Νεύμα''. Adam was the first man who came in contact directly with the divine aka Pyra-Mythra-Pnevma. Malos on the other hand, I believe represents Satan while he was falling from heaven. He felt betrayed by his own creator and was lost because he had no purpose since he was banished from heaven. Then he became the ruler of Hell while seeking destruction and all those evil things which are represented by Amalthus in my eyes. I am convinced by the time Rex was seeing Malos when he was talking to Amalthus. Logos means the Word of someone. For example in Greece we use it like ''I give you my word'' - ''Εχεις τον λόγο (logos) μου'' or you can use it like the ''Word'' in general. For reason we use the ''female'' word which is ''Λογική'' or ''Logiki''. Funny note, in Greek, Horse is ''A-logo'' which can mean ''Without Reason''. For clearance Logos = Male word, Logiki = Female word and Alogo is gender neutral word. Aionios is pronounced as (E)onios (there is a word in English which means the same thing, eon) and it means Eternal. (sidenote) Ontos means Entity. In modern Greek it's written as ''Οντότητα'' - ''Odotita'' or ''Οντότης'' - ''Odotis'' which means the same thing. Klaus: I believe what he represents is far deeper than described in the video. Klaus is a modern-society ordinary scientist-human as shown in the cutscenes unless I'm missing something abnormal besides the conduit. He represents the average human in my eyes who was cursed to lonliness and his only purpose, after the pseudo-bigbang, was to atone for his sin. His story also shows that humans can ''surpass'' God in power but they are subjects to mistakes as was Klaus. Kudos to Uncle Ben for the quote ''With great power, comes great responsibility'' here :D I also have noticed that the Universe of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was created just like our real life universe. There was a big bang which spread particles all over, planets were created, then life is created on a planet with water. Even the diagram of evolution of life is really similar to the Darwinian theorem. Xenoblade's Universe is really similar to ours. Lastly, the Blades remind me of what the AI could be and the ''cloud sea'' reminds me of nano-technology. Am I the only one who thinks that? Am I crazy or overanalyzing things? :D There are a lot of Greek references in the game. It is filled with Greek names with real meaning, like Harula in Fonsa Myma which translates to ''Little Happiness''. One that made me laugh is in Tantal where there is a Book Store which is ran by a guy named Biblio Paulio. So ''Βιβλιοπωλείο'' or ''Bibliopaulio'' in Greek literally means Book Store and that's the name of the store owner :D I am thrilled to see such videos and so many fans of Greek Philosophy and Philosophy in general in the comments. I am also disappointed by the language barrier and how many things you are missing because of that. I wish Greeks were fans of Philosophy as much as you are where there is no language barrier. But Greeks in average are not fans of Ancient Philosophy or any Philosophy at all. It's difficult to communicate your thoughts to non-philosophical minds. However, the internet is full of brilliant minds. Thank you for reminding me that. I would like to point out a suggestion. Wherever this ' symbol is over a letter in Greek it means you have to give emphasis there. For example in the word ''Ελευθερία'' ''Freedom'' you have to pronounce it as ''eleftheRIa'' rather than ''eleftHEria''. Congratulations for the video once again! Keep it up! Bonus Translation: Monolith comes from the words ''Μονό''-''Mono'' and ''Λίθος''-''Lithos'' which means Single and Stone respectively. Sorry for the long post!

If red symbolizes blood. Then maybe pyra being red emphasises the blood she has on her hands because of the aegis war.

Another cool reference comes from the hieroglyphs around the world tree, which are actually bible versus in latin and its really another cool touch! Keep up the awesome vids

You deserve a lot more subs and view's for the amount of love you and dedication you put into your video's.

I think most of the story a reinterpretation of the book of revelation let me explain. Torna is a version of the vision of the 5 trumpet where malos’ artifices are that army and also the battle between the dragon and the woman, the woman being mythra and malos being the dragon and that she was hiding from him in metaphor for pyra hiding during 500 years and that time is also a reference to the 483 years before the ministry of the messiah in the book of daniel, in this instance Rex is the messiah that is going to save the world and he succeeded where Addam failed. In this cause he is the second Addam a reference that points to the messiah. And Rex also went through hardship along the journey to save what had been lost like pneuma said “ worry not all is well , I’m lost no longer.” And Rex is also a very forgiving person similar to the messiah . And the battle with malos as the one who opposes Rex is the the anti christ and the friends that he makes along the way Represents their nations that is said in the Bible that the messiah would united all the nation of the earth in the similar way that Rex United gormotti, tantalese, nopon , lefterian, urayan and ardain to his party. And the ending is a reference to the end of revelation “ I saw a new land and a new sky, cause the old land and sky have pasted and the sea was no more. Revelation 21:1. This is also seen that the cloud sea was no more and that Alrest land old titans are new and no longer the same.

The structure and presentation came off great and I love seeing new pieces exploring the Xeno series. Ran into your "Masterclass in Foreshadowing" Xenoblade video a while back and luckily this showed up in my recommended despite not yet subscribing! Keep up the hard work and i'll keep watching your takes/thoughts on these and other games!

XC2 will be a strong part of me for eternity, thank you for your video

6:14 I didn't expect THAT!

I just found your channel. I watch the foreshadowing video on xenoblade 1 and it was a 10/10 video. Brilliant.

Just subscribed xenoblade 2 is my favorite game ever and you give amazingly thoughtful analyses of it!

I had no idea about the sins and virtues! Really good video

purple's color refrence in japanese culture is also refrence to death. which makes sense since he wants the destruction of humanity

One extra thing about the whole Genesis connection with Amalthus taking the core crystals/apples is the JP version Klaus is Sōsei no Kami, 'God of Creation' instead of the Architect. Now my Japanese is pretty garbo but I think I have seen Sōsei translated as Genesis before. Just another thing for the book of Genesis connection, but I guess we'll have to verify that one. Also when it comes to Xeno games always ALWAYS look for the Gnosticism. I hope you get to play Gears soon, waiting for the video on it, just be aware you'll be competing with Miiks.

It's all well and good, but Xeno games are inspired mostly by Gnosticism, not Christianity. They are quire similar though. Klaus takes the role of Yaldabaoth, the false god of the material world. There are a lot more derails that become obvious with Gnosticism in mint. Maybe you should research it a bit.

The titans circling around Elysium can also be a reference to the Israelites marching around Jericho, as Jericho was referred to as a Land of Milk and Honey. You could say Elysium represents Jericho, The Promised Land and The Titans represent the Israelites. The titans could also be referred to The Giants who resided in Jericho before the Israelites were instructed to arrive there, the parallel being that Giants lived in Jericho and Titans were born from Elysium/The Architect

Interesting analysis - fairly strong on the christian mythos though. There's a bit more on the Gnostic side of things

Random tidbit but in drifting souls in the last few lines it mentions the Jakob ladder. Which is a biblical allusion to a ladder leading to heaven.

The Artifices like Siren can be hinted towards God's Angels, as God has legions of them and there were many Sirens before the creation of Alrest. Malos's Gargoyles could be referenced from The Bible's mention of Gargoyles if I recall. The Artifice Ophion is a double reference as Ophion is a figure in Greek mythology I think while Ophion's design is like a huge, lengthy serpent, much like Jormungandr The World Serpent from Norse mythology.

You should do a religion video on x next. There are a ton of different religions in the game and it would be nice to do a video on them.

Best video yet. Nice job!!!

About Malos core crystal. Purple is often associated with royalty mostly due to the colour being so expensive to produce so only the insanely rich royals could afford it. Purple is also, Most prominently in video games, Symbolic of corruption (Watch the video "the color of corruption" by ruzbuten for more on that) Because of that I think that malos having a purple core crystal is symbolic of how Amalthus corrupted him to the person he is.

God your channel is so underrated

Loved this video. Thank you for making it. I appreciate this style of analysis!

Hey, just subscribed! As a suggestion for a future Xenoblade video, maybe you could talk about something that has to do with the pseudoscientific aspects of the worlds of the Xenoblade games. This could apply to the laws of physics found in Xenoblade 1's world, which are very different from our own; pretty much anything in Xenoblade X's world, but I think mimeosomes should definitely get attention; or the roles of ether Xenoblade 1 and Xenoblade 2. If you have any other ideas, feel free to include them. It is your video after all.

I’m surprised your channel isn’t huge... your one of the greatest theorists on KZfaq without a doubt!!!!!!👌🏼

Love your work

6:12 pretty accurate tier list ngl

How tf do you have under 100 subs this was legitimately amazing. Take my sub already

Love Your Videos!

You honestly deserve way more subscribers

Hmm...awesome video man! Very awesome quality in general in your videos, I love them :) I wanted to ask you...do you think Xenoblade is a game anti-religious,I mean the first one kind of gives that impression because gods are portrayed to be selfish life forms, that think only of themselves. Do you think it is really like that?

Yass finally

Interesting info.

i've been watching people react to the ending where the titans merge with the land and I keep wanting to say something about what I read about hmong mythology in an anthropology textbook.. Idk if this is exclusive to that culture or if other asian cultures have similar concepts and i am not an anthro major or anything like that but... the idea of the land being on the back of dragons is apparently a religious and/or mythological concept.. just thought i'd throw that out there. A quote from the text: "The energy of the earth is conceptualized as a great dragon that lies beneath the crest of the highest mountain chains that form its spine". Perhaps this is a spurious connection but when I saw that scene, the thing I read immediately came to mind.

I think of Mobile Fighter G Gundam to the same extent of Religious Reference that is so intriguing.

Or Malos's purple colour represents death in Japanese tradition

Selosia may have come from the Filipino word for jealousy: selos. Which is fitting

As a Small Request in the Future, I would absolutely love if you could post the script you've used. While the video essay format is a very time intensive work (especially with your attention to the editing), a script makes it really easy to share thoughts on particular aspects of the discussion.

yeah but also the entire games layout is a giant reference Norse mythology, with the World Tree, and all the other world's surrounding it. It's just the same thing

this game seens to have a gnostic narrative frame.

For a discussion, Gramps when he died he became a blade right, what makes Gramps so special, as compared with Torna Titan and Fan

These games are so deep

I have an idea abaout what it could be the main topic of xenoblade chronicles III. I think that the real protagonist of this is no other than Claus and that in the last game (III) we will see his story and how all this happen or maybe the future of claus as reincarnated as a human and at the end of the game he reveal to himself that his created this new world only for give him a new oportunity. At last yhat are my thoughts

4:28 Thats not what the architect wants Me watching the cutscenes the first time: Idk sounds like Zanza to me

Umm, this might be a long and could lead to nowhere idea, but what about a video on decoding all the blade’s names

The world tree id say has far more influence from The Tower of Babel not really much of an influence from Yggdrasil

I wonder what would happen if the game chose to reference Aboriginal mythology

Im a Christian, I only believe in Jesus in the bible, I believe in the truth of the Gospel, and I enjoy this game of the story, curiously I just wanted to know, is this game some kind of twisted or offenses to God? Im not really sure about it, knowing of how amazing adventures are through the story, but I just wanted to know about this. Even though it shows a lot of some kind of history to get into this structure.

Ever play Xenosaga?

14:06 Where'd this clip come from?

Just a side note: I LOVE listening to Indol themes! Both day and night!

17:39 I know this man did not just say "Ar-Gentum" instead of "Ar-Jentum". Bro how do so many people mess up pronunciations in this game. This game has voice acting come oooonnnnnn. People also do this with Nopon and I just don't get it.

Did you play Xenosaga?

So when it comes to Amalthus, you pretty much compared him to Thanos. That kind of works, except Thanos was more noble in his approach, albeit still horrific, while Amalthus was a douchebag with a massive god complex.

6:14 made me laugh

To be honest. All Religion is dead sorry to say. Its truth ,but however note when it comes to the Most High he has nothing to do with man made religions. Also note its very true that the Xeno series has very well attacked organized religion and taught of the falseness of it. One true instance, of this was, truly Xenosaga!. In my honest opinion, Xenosaga stands alone as the strongest biblical Xeno game ever that has pretty well interpreted the scriptures and about the devil and other biblical topics pretty good. And yes Xenosaga is very deep biblically. And no people who say Xenosaga is kinda twisting the scriptures. Its not really. A Biblical theme that was present in Xenogears and Xenosaga was "Because of the freedom of man, evil is allowed to come in content and not good.".