Christi Junior on Nostr: 3/8 - So Origin effectively is a gift from the gods that is indeed capable of saving ...
3/8
- So Origin effectively is a gift from the gods that is indeed capable of saving the two worlds from ruin. But of course, things don’t end up going as planned, because instead of the worlds being rebooted, they end up being forever frozen at the very moment they merged. The questions of HOW and WHY this happens are perhaps my biggest sticking points with this entire backstory, because Fear of Change/the Unknown personified springing into existence and hijacking Origin at the worst possible moment on its face seems like a ridiculously contrived Diabolus ex Machina.
To be fair, it didn’t need to feel quite so forced – certainly the literal End of the World is exactly the kind of extreme, unprecedented event that could (in a fantasy setting) trigger a form of collective emotional response that would make the emergence of a being like Z somewhat understandable. But here we come to ANOTHER of my big problems with this backstory: The peaceful state of Noah’s world prior to the intersection. Seriously – did Melia just not tell her people about the existential threat they were facing? Did the massive brainstorming that produced the outlines for Origin (pooling together all the world’s greatest minds), the construction of Origin itself over the course of (presumably) many years, or that giant chunk of metal floating in the sky, somehow all escape public notice? Did Melia really keep the masses in the dark about how they could all soon be erased from existence? I get her not wanting to spark mass panic, but at the same time, don’t the people have the right to know about something THIS important, so that they can face Judgement Day in whatever manner they deem appropriate? And if they *did* know, surely Xenoblade 3’s opening with Kid Noah makes no sense, because cheerfully celebrating a festival is not something the masses would be doing with a universe-sized Sword of Damocles dangling over their heads, especially one they KNOW will drop sooner rather than later.
So I have to assume that the people of XB1’s world (and presumably XB2’s New Alrest as well) really were kept in the dark all along – in which case, how do we actually get the kind of mass panic and soul-crushing dread that could conceivably summon Z into existence? The one explanation I can come up with is that EVERYONE experienced their own version of what happened to Kid Noah – every single individual experienced time itself stopping, and then suddenly was faced with the sight of a strange planet on collision course with their own world, sure to annihilate everything upon impact. Again, that is the kind of extreme situation that could justify Z emerging – after all, we’ve seen before in Xenoblade lore how characters in moments of desperation make choices that ruin their lives (like Jin, when faced with the imminent death of Lora). The people of two worlds, seemingly faced with certain doom, desperately wishing to SOMEHOW prevent the inevitable from happening and stave off death, unwittingly preventing Origin from saving them and instead being cursed with perpetual war and strife in a broken world, does kinda work as a form of dramatic irony.
But if this is how it went down, why portray only Noah experiencing the worlds colliding, rather than just have the entire crowd witness the event and giving us a whole range of human emotions in response to this apocalypse? Whether it was done for the sake of misdirection, protagonist-focus or just because it made for the better trailer images, it certainly creates its share of potential plot holes now that we know the whole truth.
Also, if my explanation is accurate, then the whole reason this entire mess happened is Melia and Nia’s excessive secrecy (if the masses HAD known about Origin, they would surely still have been scared, but the prospect of the Ark rescuing them should have given them the kind of hope for the future that would be antithetical to a being like Z) – something the game and the characters in no way acknowledge, which makes me think I must be missing something, because Melia and Nia are both characters whose mistakes always weigh heavily on their hearts.
Of course, even if I accept that Z’s emergence makes sense, we still get pretty much NO information about just *how* he took over Origin – and also no explanation of why Melia ends up being captured by Moebius, while Nia is able to escape. To me, logic would dictate that either Z *instantly* hijacks Origin, in which case BOTH Melia and Nia should stand no chance of avoiding capture during the surprise attack, or it takes him a while to do this, in which case Melia and Nia should have time to rally their forces, with the result that a heavily outgunned Z (the only other “original” Moebius are X and Y) shouldn’t be able to capture Origin at all. At best, we seem to have missed one hell of a story because Xenoblade 3 is allergic to focusing on Xenoblade legacy characters and events preceding Noah and N.
- Now, with Origin captured by Z and his dream world established, we’re confronted with the fact that Aionios is something of a paradox: N alternates between talking about the “Flow” of the world, and the world being Still, which someone like Lanz finds highly confusing – and I can’t really blame him. That said, I find the term “Endless Now” helpful in this case – or if you prefer a Xenoblade 2 throwback, “A Moment of Eternity”. Aionios came into being the moment the two worlds collided, completing Origin and unleashing Z. The two worlds coming into contact SHOULD result in them both cancelling each other out, leaving only light – but this never happens, because Z froze the moment of contact forever. In doing so he prevented the worlds’ destruction – but also their rebirth.
What we end up with is a fusion of two inherently incompatible worlds, which is the reason behind the Annihilation Effect. However, Z and Moebius ARE able to keep the world somewhat stable, being able to counter the annihilation events to such an extent that despite Keves Castle being utterly covered in black fog, nothing ever goes boom. Of course, the price of this achievement is obscene – the enslavement and constant slaughter of the Keves and Agnus soldiers, who can die and be reborn over and over again due to Z having control over the souls stored in Origin. Moreover, the world isn’t completely stable and is, very slowly and gradually, destroying itself. The inability to move on and face the future does take its toll.
- So Origin effectively is a gift from the gods that is indeed capable of saving the two worlds from ruin. But of course, things don’t end up going as planned, because instead of the worlds being rebooted, they end up being forever frozen at the very moment they merged. The questions of HOW and WHY this happens are perhaps my biggest sticking points with this entire backstory, because Fear of Change/the Unknown personified springing into existence and hijacking Origin at the worst possible moment on its face seems like a ridiculously contrived Diabolus ex Machina.
To be fair, it didn’t need to feel quite so forced – certainly the literal End of the World is exactly the kind of extreme, unprecedented event that could (in a fantasy setting) trigger a form of collective emotional response that would make the emergence of a being like Z somewhat understandable. But here we come to ANOTHER of my big problems with this backstory: The peaceful state of Noah’s world prior to the intersection. Seriously – did Melia just not tell her people about the existential threat they were facing? Did the massive brainstorming that produced the outlines for Origin (pooling together all the world’s greatest minds), the construction of Origin itself over the course of (presumably) many years, or that giant chunk of metal floating in the sky, somehow all escape public notice? Did Melia really keep the masses in the dark about how they could all soon be erased from existence? I get her not wanting to spark mass panic, but at the same time, don’t the people have the right to know about something THIS important, so that they can face Judgement Day in whatever manner they deem appropriate? And if they *did* know, surely Xenoblade 3’s opening with Kid Noah makes no sense, because cheerfully celebrating a festival is not something the masses would be doing with a universe-sized Sword of Damocles dangling over their heads, especially one they KNOW will drop sooner rather than later.
So I have to assume that the people of XB1’s world (and presumably XB2’s New Alrest as well) really were kept in the dark all along – in which case, how do we actually get the kind of mass panic and soul-crushing dread that could conceivably summon Z into existence? The one explanation I can come up with is that EVERYONE experienced their own version of what happened to Kid Noah – every single individual experienced time itself stopping, and then suddenly was faced with the sight of a strange planet on collision course with their own world, sure to annihilate everything upon impact. Again, that is the kind of extreme situation that could justify Z emerging – after all, we’ve seen before in Xenoblade lore how characters in moments of desperation make choices that ruin their lives (like Jin, when faced with the imminent death of Lora). The people of two worlds, seemingly faced with certain doom, desperately wishing to SOMEHOW prevent the inevitable from happening and stave off death, unwittingly preventing Origin from saving them and instead being cursed with perpetual war and strife in a broken world, does kinda work as a form of dramatic irony.
But if this is how it went down, why portray only Noah experiencing the worlds colliding, rather than just have the entire crowd witness the event and giving us a whole range of human emotions in response to this apocalypse? Whether it was done for the sake of misdirection, protagonist-focus or just because it made for the better trailer images, it certainly creates its share of potential plot holes now that we know the whole truth.
Also, if my explanation is accurate, then the whole reason this entire mess happened is Melia and Nia’s excessive secrecy (if the masses HAD known about Origin, they would surely still have been scared, but the prospect of the Ark rescuing them should have given them the kind of hope for the future that would be antithetical to a being like Z) – something the game and the characters in no way acknowledge, which makes me think I must be missing something, because Melia and Nia are both characters whose mistakes always weigh heavily on their hearts.
Of course, even if I accept that Z’s emergence makes sense, we still get pretty much NO information about just *how* he took over Origin – and also no explanation of why Melia ends up being captured by Moebius, while Nia is able to escape. To me, logic would dictate that either Z *instantly* hijacks Origin, in which case BOTH Melia and Nia should stand no chance of avoiding capture during the surprise attack, or it takes him a while to do this, in which case Melia and Nia should have time to rally their forces, with the result that a heavily outgunned Z (the only other “original” Moebius are X and Y) shouldn’t be able to capture Origin at all. At best, we seem to have missed one hell of a story because Xenoblade 3 is allergic to focusing on Xenoblade legacy characters and events preceding Noah and N.
- Now, with Origin captured by Z and his dream world established, we’re confronted with the fact that Aionios is something of a paradox: N alternates between talking about the “Flow” of the world, and the world being Still, which someone like Lanz finds highly confusing – and I can’t really blame him. That said, I find the term “Endless Now” helpful in this case – or if you prefer a Xenoblade 2 throwback, “A Moment of Eternity”. Aionios came into being the moment the two worlds collided, completing Origin and unleashing Z. The two worlds coming into contact SHOULD result in them both cancelling each other out, leaving only light – but this never happens, because Z froze the moment of contact forever. In doing so he prevented the worlds’ destruction – but also their rebirth.
What we end up with is a fusion of two inherently incompatible worlds, which is the reason behind the Annihilation Effect. However, Z and Moebius ARE able to keep the world somewhat stable, being able to counter the annihilation events to such an extent that despite Keves Castle being utterly covered in black fog, nothing ever goes boom. Of course, the price of this achievement is obscene – the enslavement and constant slaughter of the Keves and Agnus soldiers, who can die and be reborn over and over again due to Z having control over the souls stored in Origin. Moreover, the world isn’t completely stable and is, very slowly and gradually, destroying itself. The inability to move on and face the future does take its toll.