Characters / Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Torna

Main Page | Main Protagonists (Pyra & Mythra) | Optional Blades | Organization of Torna | Other Characters | "Torna ~ The Golden Country" Cast

The members of the terrorist organization Torna, and their Blades.

---

General

• Big Bad Duumvirate: Malos and Jin are this, the former is the more powerful one due to his status as an Aegis, while the latter is The Leader of Torna.
• Big Bad Ensemble: They form this with Amalthus for the majority of the game until the climax.
• Cool Airship: Their main base of operations is the Marsanes, a surviving warship from the lost Kingdom of Torna. The Marsanes can also transform into a Humongous Mecha.
• Death Seeker: According to Malos, they all "sought oblivion" and indeed their plans to change the world would likely have given them no future. Rather than just end their own lives, they want the world they see as wrong to die along with them. Mikhail is the one exception, though he is still nihilistic enough to go along with their plans for some time.
• Genre Refugee: While the game is no stranger to shifting art styles for certain characters, the Organization of Torna really sticks out as a transplanted Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts party cast in the role of villains, especially thanks to their contrasting designs and mannerisms with the rest of the game's roster. This all makes more sense due to the fact they were designed by Tetsuya Nomura himself:
  • As a whole, their role as terrorists is an inversion of the rebel groups the protagonists belong to (Wild Rose Rebellion, The Returners, AVALANCHE etc.), and their goal of killing the Architect would have likely made them heroes in a Final Fantasy game.
  • Mikhail looks and acts like he'd be the cocky hero of his own Final Fantasy game, similar to Zidane and Tidus, and indeed, he is a Token Good Teammate that pulls off a Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Patroka meanwhile appears to be designed as an evil Tifa Lockheart from Final Fantasy VII. Additionally, her status as an Aloof Dark-Haired Girl is also reminiscent of Lulu, though in a contrast to both Tifa and Lulu, she's far from being the Team Mom of the group.
  • Akhos looks and acts like the typical Deadpan Snarker and The Smart Guy of a Final Fantasy party, bringing to mind characters like Quistis and Ignis, and therefore does so for Torna in a villainous way.
  • Malos by contrast takes after The Lancer and The Heavy in a typical Final Fantasy party, like Amaranth, Basch, and Gladiolus, and plays this role for Torna as a cocky second in command to The Stoic Jin, befitting how The Hero and The Lancer have opposite temperaments. Since he's part of the Aegis, he's best suited for these two roles.
  • As Malos' superior, Jin sticks out the most because he's effectively a Final Fantasy protagonist in the role of a main villain. In terms of his physical design, besides obviously being created by Tetsuya Nomura, he draws from Cloud and Sephiroth which befits his Fallen Hero status. His temperament, backstory, and personality also make it that he wouldn't look out of place next to Vincent, Squall, or even Lightning as well, though as per the Sephiroth connection, he's long past being The Hero.
• Oddly Small Organization: At its max (before a certain defection) there were only six members (plus their blades). Intentional, perhaps due to the Death Seeker nature of them, indeed if Jin had his way then the other members would not have even resonated with Blades, making the organization even smaller.
• Put Them All Out of My Misery:
  • While some of them do make claims of more noble motivations, to an extent the motivations for their desire to destroy the world can be traced back to the fact that their own lives have been so miserable for so long, twisting their perceptions on everything else. Rex puts it succinctly when he notes that despite despising Amalthus they are in essence no different from him, just tortured souls lashing out at a world they see as so flawed that it doesn't deserve to exist, and ignoring the happiness that exists in favor of wallowing in their own pain and self pity and clinging to their past traumas as a crutch.
  • Malos himself however is something of a subversion, he is motivated by feelings of misery and misanthropy, but said feelings were put in him at birth instead of being based on traumas that actually happened to him (though his own experiences over time would add to these feelings).
• Recurring Boss: Every one of the main 5 members of Torna is fought at least twice during the game.
• Samurai: All of their members take influence from samurai gear and armor in regards to their aesthetic appearances.
• Took a Level in Kindness: The ones who show up as recruitable Blades in NG+ (i.e. everyone except Malos and Jin) are all considerably less antagonistic and more friendly with the main party. It helps that, barring Mikhail, all of them are new incarnations of themselves and thus have the memories of their Torna incarnations lost.
• Villainous Friendship: Torna benefit from the Power of Friendship arguably as much as Rex and the rest of the party does. Each of the drivers are emotionally attached to their blades and each other, with Akhos even becoming visibly distraught when Obrona is killed by Mythra. Special mention goes to Jin and Malos, who are the most on-board with the organisation's goal, and are about as close as Rex and Pyra.

Jin (Shin)

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), John Schwab (English)

The leader of Torna. Stoic and serious, he aims to reach Elysium and confront the Architect for personal reasons. He starts off the game in pursuit of the Aegis.

For tropes applying to Jin in Torna ~ The Golden Country, see here.

---

• Arch-Enemy: Rex's most personal enemy, given that he killed him. During their Teeth-Clenched Teamwork in Chapter 8, Rex makes it clear he's never going to forgive Jin but that he does understand there are some parts of the good man he used to be and tries to get him to see things his way. Their time together is part of what convinces Jin to pull a Heroic Sacrifice to stop Amalthus, and he more or less dies as the good man Lora fell in love with.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Jin is playable on two occasions - in Chapter 8 in the Land of Morytha, and during the "Titan Battleship Assault" Challenge Battle. While this sounds awesome, Jin doesn't have access to Blade Arts, Battle Skills, pouch items or any other sort of buff, making him unusually slow and frustrating to play as. In particular, it takes forever for him to kill an Ardainian Citadel on Bringer of Chaos difficulty, while any Driver with the right setup could dispose of it in about a minute. Thankfully, Torna - The Golden Country has him playable as one of the two central characters, albeit before he got his impressive Flesh Eater powers.
• Big Bad: Appears to be this at first, as the leader of Torna, but its subverted then played straight. Malos is at first revealed to be the more powerful of the two and appears to share the leader role with Jin for the midpoint of the story, but in the end its revealed he's simply been following Jin's will. Jin also shares the Big Bad position with Amalthus, who is responsible for the suffering that led Jin and Malos to their actions.
• Big Eater: Unused content found in datamining reveals three of Jin's four favored pouch item categories to be seafood, with Oyster Stir-Fry being a favorite item, and staple foods.
• Birds of a Feather: He and Malos both share nihilistic views of the world which manifested into a desire for Alrest's destruction.
• Bodyguard Crush: For his last two Drivers, though the present Jin wouldn't remember the first one. Learning about the struggles of himself and his former wife through his diary had a drastic effect on his personality. His old self was so hellbent on not forgetting his first Driver that he spent the last years of his life researching the Flesh Eater process, only to finish too late. This knowledge drove the present Jin to sacrifice everything to not forget his current Driver and love Lora. He comes to regret it.
• Brought Down to Badass: Temporarily during his first boss fight where his power is Nerfed, but he is still an incredibly powerful fighter Rex and the party can't even defeat. At the end of chapter 7, his core gets damaged in his all-out fight with Rex and the fully awakened Aegis. For the rest of the game he is in a sense at death's door despite Mythra doing what she could to heal him, yet keeps on trucking, even offering one of the main story's more challenging boss fights and using his full power a few more times before expiring.
• Chewing the Scenery: In spite of his usual calm demeanor, he has moments of this. The most notable being the boss fight against him in Tantal.
  Jin: "Look at me! Behold my Will! MY POWER!"
• Composite Character: Of Cloud Strife and Sephiroth. Like both of them, he is designed by Tetsuya Nomura. Outside of that, he shares Cloud's stoic temperament, as well as a Dark and Troubled Past and a failure involved a woman important to him that he failed to save. Like Sephiroth, he's a silver-haired rival to the main protagonist who carries a long and thing sword, and being a Fallen Hero whose Cynicism Catalyst involved an ugly truth about his true nature (Sephiroth discovering that he was experimented on with JENOVA cells, Jin's inability to remember his past lives due to being a Blade). In addition to this, the traits he shares with both are also combined with traits of Grahf/Lacan from Xenogears, making him the resident Grahf Expy of Xenoblade Chronicles until Consul N came along.
• Cool Mask: Wears one that covers a lot of his face. It conceals the Core Crystal on his forehead.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Indol destroying the remnants of the Kingdom of Torna, which led to Jin's Driver Lora dying in the attack. This drove Jin into consuming Lora's heart, turning him into a Flesh Eater Blade, so he wouldn't revert back to a Core Crystal and lose all his memories and forget her. But by that same token, not letting go of the past led him down a dark path.
• Death Seeker: One motivation he has for going to the Architect to kill him is to die, he just thinks the rest of humanity should go with him.
  • Rex eventually realizes that Jin hasn't actually wanted to die since he reunited with Malos, something Jin didn't even realize until Rex pointed it out to him.
• Disappears into Light: How he meets his end, overuse of his powers and his damaged Core Crystal causing him to disintegrate.
• The Dragon: To Malos, although officially, Malos is his second-in-command.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • He still genuinely cared about and loved his old Driver Lora even after he joined Malos, downright keeping her body safe in the ship. Albeit he claims keeping her body around is to remind him of his past foolishness for believing in the wisdom of the Architect, he is well aware Lora would not want him siding with Malos.
  • More minor example but it's pretty clear that he cares for both Malos and Akhos considering that he made a promise to Malos and how he reacted to Akhos' death by Amalthus.
• Exact Words: In her dying moments, Lora laments that the thought of Jin forgetting her is too much to bear. To prevent this, Jin devoured her heart and continued to live on with his memories, despite losing his own will to live. Malos points out that those last words were a curse to him.
• Expy:
  • Off the bat he invokes many traits of the Xeno series' recurring character archetype of the cold and knowledgeable katana wielder, as exemplified by characters such as Citan and especially Jin Uzuki, whose ice powers, poor communication skills, and also name in the dub he shares.
  • While the particular parallels that make the connection explicit are not seen until Torna: The Golden Country, several elements from the base game hint at Jin's true nature as the Xenoblade incarnation of Lacan/Grahf, such as his nihilism, connection to a red-headed Cynicism Catalyst, and prominence in the catastrophic events that took place 500 years before the present.
• Fallen Hero: In the Aegis War 500 years ago, he had fought on Mythra's side against Malos. He was considered to be kindest of them and was a pacifist who refused to fight unless necessary. Losing his Driver and being, in his mind (due to her dying wish), denied the option to die robbed Jin of a purpose until Malos gave him a new one.
• Fatal Flaw: Excessive attachment. Jin is unable to dissociate himself at all from his previous lives, which spares him from the fear of losing his identity that most Blades grapple with, but means he's unable to handle the long-term implications of the romantic relationships that he inevitably falls into.
• Flash Step: He uses this to kill Rex at the beginning of the story. He claims to be able to move at the speed of light.
• Foil: To Brighid. Both are, or were, the crown jewels of their respective kingdoms and contenders for the strongest Blades in the world. Each is a Cultured Badass with a deep devotion to their Driver and who struggles with the nature of their lifecycle as Blades. However, where Brighid fears that each version of herself is a reincarnation who effectively died with her Driver and came back as someone new with the same face, Jin fears that each version of himself is the same person with amnesia, cursed with forgetting the people he loves.
• Glass Cannon: As a Flesh Eater, he wields extraordinary power and incredible speed, but many characters note that he can't take much punishment and has a habit of overexerting himself, constantly putting him near death's door. As a side effect of his Flesh Eater powers, he also can't heal as fast as ordinary Blades can, forcing him to rely on the healing chambers in the Monoceros.
• Go Out with a Smile: Dies after killing Amalthus, glad that the last years of his life had meaning after all because of his bond with Malos.
• Guest-Star Party Member: For the first dungeon in the game. He will also fight alongside Rex temporarily in the Land of Morytha until he has regrouped with everyone else.
• Hero Killer: Killed Rex who was later revived by Pyra and later killed Fan la Norne.
• History Repeats: The two times the audience gets to see Jin with his past Drivers, he falls madly in love with them (his first being heavily implied to be his wife in that life, especially in the Japanese version) despite Blades always becoming different people when they're reborn. This one facet of his life didn't change after he was reborn. Both times he was willing to do something that is taboo for damn good reason for a chance to hold on to his memories of them. Interestingly, it's the actions and feelings of BOTH of his selves that led to him taking the path to villainy that he did despite the first "Jin" being long dead.
• An Ice Person: It's his element as a Blade, as seen whenever he fights with or against the party. In his true form, he frequently displays his control over elementals by conjuring ice. He freezes Amalthus to absolute zero at the cost of his life.
• Interspecies Romance: He was implied to be married with his previous Driver before becoming Lora's Blade in the Japanese version.
• Irony: Jin was awakened when Lora touched his core crystal, and the first thing he did was to defend Lora from being killed by Gort for doing so, later to protect Lora from Gort, eventually killing him at the end of the Torna DLC. In the first chapter of the game, Jin ends up doing exactly what Gort did: killing Rex for awakening Pyra.
• I Work Alone: He is the only member of Torna who is not bonded to a Blade and thus never uses one in battle. Indeed, Nia explains that when Malos decided they should do so Jin was deadset against the other members of Torna resonating with Blades. Nia speculates that his refusal to resonate with anyone comes from his inherent desire as a Blade to not share that bond with anyone else but the long dead Lora.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Uses a sword called a Nodachi in battle, it is the inherent weapon he is born with as a Blade.
• The Leader: Even though Malos is higher than him in the power hierarchy, Jin is the leader of Torna as he is the one tying the other members together. He rescued Mikhail when he was a war orphan and gave the unwanted Flesh Eaters, Akhos, Patroka, and Nia a home and a purpose. They all in turn all demonstrate undying loyalty.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: If he falls into a bottomless pit for the brief time he's under player control, he says "Very funny..." as if addressing the player directly for making him do such a stupid thing.
• Leitmotif: The Power of Jin reflects on Jin's desperation and sorrow.
• Martial Pacifist: Was formerly one back during the Aegis war, where he refused to participate in military exercises and took no enjoyment in fighting. When his driver Lora died he dropped his unwillingness to fight, determined now to exterminate humanity.
• Meaningful Name: His NA version name is Jin which ironically is also Japanese, and can mean both "man" and "blade", later reveal makes this a big foreshadowing of his identity as a Flesh Eater a half-human and half-Blade. His Japanese name Shin is a homonym for the Japanese word for "god", and he is one of the most powerful Blades in all of Alrest.
• Mercy Kill:
  • Viewed killing Rex at the beginning of the story as this.
  • Does it again to Fan la Norne, seeking to free her of her master. He immediately regrets it.
• Mirror Character:
  • Despite having been on different sides in the Aegis War, he and Malos share a commonality in lacking a purpose due to Amalthus: Jin in losing Lora and Malos being corrupted by his hatred. They're also the same as Rex and Pyra, as Jin made a promise to Malos to take him to Elysium that ends up giving them both a reason to live.
  • Despite opposing each other, Jin and Amalthus have lots of similarities to each other. They both started off as noble individuals but fell into misanthropy after losing their loved ones and seeing the corruption rampant in the world. As a result, they both desired to see the world end, which in turn corrupted Malos' personality into that of an Omnicidal Maniac. They willingly became beings deviant from their respective species (Jin as a flesh-eater and Amalthus as a blade-eater).
• Mythology Gag: Shares some traits with Jin Uzuki such as having the same name, uses the same type of weapon and having the same element.
  • His Stunned Swallow Art also mimics the animation used by Citan Uzuki for his Zanretsu Deathblow
• No-Sell:
  • Mythra's Foresight allows Rex to see a bit into the future and predict all incoming attacks. Against a light-speed opponent such as Jin, it is useless as he still cannot physically move fast enough to properly defend against his attacks.
  • His control over elementary ether particles makes all ether-based attacks useless, even the light beams from Siren. But he has no control over actual light like Siren's targeting laser, presumably because it's not a massed particle.
• Non-Standard Character Design: His Core Crystal is located on his forehead. By contrast, every other humanoid Blade shown in the game has theirs on their upper chest.
• One-Man Army: Single-handedly takes down an Ardainian imperial warship. Emperor Niall states that he doubts even an army five thousand strong would have been able to stop him.
• One-Winged Angel: His true form bares his chest and gives him a set of wing-like appendages on his lower back. His physical abilities become significantly boosted, taking down the entire party in the blink of an eye and completely overwhelming Rex and Mythra. As Jin never uses this form during Torna: The Golden Country or even hints he has it, it can be surmised this is the particular power-up he got from becoming a Flesh Eater. Considering who he's designed by and who he looks like this isn't exactly surprising.
• Only Friend: To Malos. While the other Torna members aren't overtly hostile to him, they don't have the seeing each other as equals relationship the two of them have. This behavior is subtle foreshadowing that Malos isn't just destroying without a reason anymore, he's trying to destroy the world as revenge for hurting Jin so much. Malos includes committing suicide in the process, since he rightfully blames himself for causing much of Jin's agony in the past.
• Perpetual Motion Machine: A rare example of an Inversion. Jin's ability to control elementary particles essentially makes him an inverted version of Maxwell's Demon. Rather than providing limitless energy as per the traditional focus of the thought experiment, he suppresses the flow of energy (or in this case, ether) in its entirety.
• Purposefully Overpowered: When he's a Guest-Star Party Member he's completely broken, most notably with his ability to pull off the entire Break/Topple/Launch/Smash combo by himself with ease. You'll need it unless Rex is extremely over-leveled and geared when the player reaches Morytha.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Malos' red.
• Really 700 Years Old: In the beginning of the game, Pyra knows him and Malos from over five hundred years ago, but it wasn't really established how. It is because Jin is a Flesh Eater Blade, allowing him to live on with his memories. He dies at the age of 511.
• Redemption Equals Death: Sacrifices himself to kill Amalthus, burning out the last of his life to chill the Praetor to absolute zero and entrusting the future to Rex and the others.
• Restored My Faith in Humanity: Near the end of the game, Rex's optimism and drive to change the world for the better ultimately persuades Jin to sacrifice himself to save the party from a rampaging Amalthus, as does Rex explaining to Jin the real reason Blades exist. Though as Rex and Pyra later point out to Malos, he never truly lost faith in humanity. He simply wanted to be by Malos's side.
• Stock Shōnen Rival: He's the closest thing to a nemesis for Stock Shōnen Hero Rex, being the villain with the closest personal connection to him (given that Jin literally kills Rex at the start of the game). Jin in general hits many hallmarks of the trope, such as White Hair, Black Heart, his Bishōnen looks, and generally being an aloof, stoic jerkass. Jin starts to open up to the heroes later in the game, and only performs a Heel–Face Turn at the last minute when he performs a Heroic Sacrifice to take down Amalthus.
• Superpower Lottery: One of the biggest winners in the game. With his ability of particle manipulation he can move at the speed of light, No-Sell any energy attack including the beams from Siren, and can freeze anything to absolute zero. He is so powerful that when he goes all out he easily overwhelms the party including Mythra. It isn't until Rex awakens the Third Blade that he suffers complete and utter defeat. Mitigated in that while he got the benefits that came with being a Flesh Eater (namely unique and extreme powers), said powers came with the cost of a slowly deteriorating body that can't handle prolonged battle and requires special treatments to keep functioning..
• The Paragon Always Rebels: He used to be called "the Paragon of Torna" during the Aegis War, and true to this trope, when he turned against the Architect, he brought every other member of Torna (including Malos) with him.
• Tragic Ice Character: His element is Ice and he crossed the Despair Event Horizon long ago.
• Walking Spoiler: Look at all this white! You can't say it's easy to talk about Jin w/o giving at least a few spoilers to someone.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Wasn't the case over 500 years ago when he was a Martial Pacifist. Even at the present time, he didn't fully give up on humanity, at least not until Rex helped him find an answer in the World Tree.
• World's Strongest Man: It's astonishing to see a seemingly normal man display remarkable abilities, such as his incredible speed, without a Blade by his side. It is because Jin is a Blade, and one of the strongest in existence, made even stronger as a successful Flesh Eater. He was called "The Strongest Man in Torna", meaning he was even stronger than Addam, the hero of Torna.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: His all-out battle with Rex and Pneuma leaves his Core Crystal damaged to an extent that even Pneuma's powers apparently can't fully fix it, as she warns Jin the repair job she did is not perfect.

Malos (Metsu)

Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura (Japanese), David Menkin (English)

Torna's second-in-command. Brutish and disdainful towards others and the world, he plans to aid Jin in carrying out Torna's destructive plans against Alrest. Partnered with the Blade, Sever.

For tropes applying to Malos in Torna ~ The Golden Country, see here.

---

• Above Good and Evil: As an Aegis both him and Mythra are initially beyond both, being clean slates before being awakened. His current state is the product of Amalthus's influence.
• Affably Evil: Malos is out to destroy the world, but he is polite, friendly, and amicable with his teammates.
• Almighty Janitor: He is initially billed as Jin's second-in-command and appears to be nothing more than a brutish subordinate. Later it is revealed that he is actually the other Aegis and follows Jin out of a promise they made that was similar to the promise made between Rex and Pyra, though their close relationship sometimes makes it questionable who's doing what for who.
• Ambiguously Gay: Malos never shows over romantic or sexual interest in any other person (mainly focusing on his goals), but there is subtext and hints that Malos may have/had feelings for Jin, even giving him a tender hug as goodbyes, believing it's the last time they will see each other. It's an interpretation that Malos' voice actors in both languages, David Menkin and Yuichi Nakamura, share based on context alone, to the point that latter mentioned being unsure of Jin's gender in the recording booth due to the script giving Malos such charged Implied Love Interest undertones towards him.
• Apocalypse How: Planetary in scope is his plan (though made easier in that much of the planet is not inhabited). Once he finds out about Aion, controlling it is his ultimate aim. After devastating Alrest via Orbital Bombardment, he'd presumably use Aion to deal the final blow. That Aion, even with the Conduit gone and much of its strength drained, proves to contain enough energy to destroy the entire space station when it self-destructs (including the "Elysium" living area stated to be big enough to house the entire humanoid population of Alrest) indicates he could well have succeeded if he wasn't stopped.
• Arch-Enemy: To Pyra/Mythra. They have been sworn enemies ever since the Aegis War.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Implied. During the early chapters, Malos' English voice acting is notably wooden, monotone, and stilted. As seen later in the game when he bursts into the glorious Large Ham delivery that he's known for (and is much more properly emotional during quiet moments), this was most likely part of the façade he put on to pretend to be a human Driver and Most Definitely Not a Villain.
• Being Evil Sucks: Malos is thoroughly miserable due to the fact that his own existence and actions led to so much pain and suffering for those around him, which in turn further corrupts his personality and leads to more tragedies. He makes it very clear that being subjected to the nihilistic desires of others such as Jin and Amalthus was not pleasant at all.
• BFS: After regaining his full power, he replaces his Blade with a black Monado, complete with Monado Arts and the glowing symbol.
• Big Bad: Averted. Despite being the main and final obstacle for the protagonists, Malos' actions are completely subservient to Amalthus, and later Jin, according to Klaus. The final battle with him is less stopping the one responsible for the last 500 years of carnage and more trying to stop Malos' tantrum of grief over Jin dying.
• Big Eater: Unused content found in datamining reveals that three out of four of Malos's favored pouch items are foods, specifically desserts, Grilled Anchortail and Argentum Noodle Soup.
• Birds of a Feather: He and Jin both share nihilistic views of the world which manifested into a desire for Alrest's destruction.
• Black Sheep: Of a sort. Unlike his "father" Klaus, his sister Pneuma, and his sibling Ontos, he never develops any personalities beyond being Malos (Klaus was split into the Architect in the world of Alrest and Zanza in the world of the Bionis; Pneuma was initially Mythra before creating Pyra; Ontos was initially awakened as Alvis by Zanza and influenced by Klaus' regrets, but was reawakened as Alpha as a result of lacking substitutes for Pneuma and Logos within the core of Origin, with A splitting off from Alpha during the latter's battle with Consul N).
• Blood Knight: Has shades of this. When Mythra breaks her seal he only grins and tells her "Welcome back!" while Akhos is panicking next to him.
• Body Horror:
  • We see a flashback to how he looked after Mythra did her damnedest to kill him in a rage at the end of the Aegis War. In addition to his Core Crystal having a chunk of it gone, half of his body (including part of his face) is either missing or dissolving into purple ether specks.
  • When Nia gives him a taste of her Harmful Healing power, Malos' body starts swelling up due to uncontrollable cell replication to the point his armor bulges due to all the tumor growths beneath it (some bulges also bursting as they release clouds of red mist). His screams of rage at Nia are only matched by the screams of pain as he stumbles before finally falling out of the boss arena. Luckily for him, as an Aegis he manages to quickly recover once the party leaves.
• Book Ends: He's the last boss of both the first and last chapters.
• Brought Down to Badass: 500 years ago he was a one-man army thanks to his destructive energy powers and the artifices he wielded as an Aegis. For most of the game he is still quite powerful but can only use a small portion of his Aegis powers, thanks to Mythra having severely damaged his Core Crystal at the end of the Aegis War. The fact that he was not only still alive but could still move and fight with his crystal in such a state is regarded as remarkable by other members of Torna, and possible only because he is an Aegis (indeed it doesn't seem to cause him pain or impair him in any way beyond not being able to use much of his true Aegis abilities). Once he regains his full power however, he becomes strong enough to singlehandedly subdue Artifice Ophion.
• Cain and Abel and Seth: The Cain to Pyra's/Mythra's Abel, as both are Aegises created by the Architect, making them siblings in a sense - and to drive the point home, both refer to the Architect as "Father". Within the Trinity Processor, they still occupy these roles due to Pneuma (Pyra/Mythra) being the Core dedicated to emotion and passion, while Logos (Malos) is the Core dedicated to nuance and logic, with Ontos (Alvis) being Seth due to acting as the balance between the two. But without Ontos to balance them in 2, Pyra/Mythra and Malos inevitably end up as enemies incapable of compromising - meanwhile, the absence of Pneuma and Logos in Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed results in Ontos losing all sense of compassion and nuance, which leads to them becoming Alpha.
• Call-Back: He is able to use Monado Arts after restoring his full power, implying that he and the other Aegis Swords are actually Monados and that the missing third Aegis is Alvis. He also calls himself "the Endbringer" which was the Telethia's title in Xenoblade Chronicles X.
• Circular Reasoning: He cites his own world-destroying atrocities as proof that the world is a terrible place and thus deserves a world-destroying atrocity. As he has little free will in the matter, however, this is not an attempt at rationalizing his behavior so much as it is an external perspective.
• The Conscience: In an ironic twist, 'Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed reveals he's one to Ontos, aka Alvis - as Logos, he has the capacity to recognize flaws and nuance, including in himself, and without him, Ontos lost perspective and became Alpha.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Compared to Zanza from the previous game, he is a Dark Is Evil Satanic Archetype filed with self-loathing, while the latter is a Light Is Not Good Evil God filled with self superiority. Additionally, Zanza is the evil half of a mortal, while Malos was influenced by an evil mortal.
• Cool Sword: His true Aegis weapon is a dark sword that's his own version of the Monado. Just to emphasize it, most of his attack names are the same Monado Arts Shulk uses in the first game.
• Dark Is Evil: His primary element and the element of his attacks. Makes sense being that he is the Evil Counterpart to the light using Mythra.
• Death Equals Redemption: He speaks one last time to Pneuma, free of all malice, postmortem while she herself prepares to die.
  So tell me... How was it, being alive?
• Death Seeker: Malos's self-loathing quickly becomes evident during the final chapter of the story, hating the world itself due to influence from Amalthus and seeing the pain and misery running rampant in the world much in part caused by himself. To this end, Malos declares himself a monster and implores Rex to fight him with everything he has. Only in death is he able to make peace with himself, saying that his life wasn't that bad after all.
• Demoted to Dragon: Malos terrorized Alrest independently in the past before working for Jin. Unlike most examples, his service is entirely voluntary.
• De-power: Suffered this 500 years before the game starts; specifically, his Core Crystal was fractured by Mythra at the conclusion of their battle. It isn't until Chapter 7 that he repairs it and regains his full power.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: He spent the time between the prequel and the main game trying to find a justification for his existence due to coming to the conclusion that his desire for destruction and his own death come from Amalthus, not his own thoughts, pointlessly roaming the alleys of Mor Ardain like a common vagabond. Eventually he ran into Jin doing the same, coming to the conclusion that destroying Alrest is for the best if it could cause this much misery for just one man. Before he dies, he wants to know what the Architect could've possibly wanted when he made him and the world around him, if all he can do in life is cause pain. As he dies, he realizes his purpose in life was to give Jin a new reason to live, before going out with a smile on his face.
• Dual Boss: The second and fourth times Malos is fought, he's fought alongside Ahkos and Jin respectively.
• The Dragon: He is completely devoted to serving Jin's will, despite being the stronger of the two. The Architect explains that he has to serve someone else by his nature and can't help it.
• Dragon-in-Chief: He may be devoted to Jin’s will and second-in-command of Torna, but Malos was the one who helped Jin found the organization and is more powerful due to him being an Aegis.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite showing little empathy to the death of his comrades, it is clear that Malos cared about them, fondly recalling Akhos in regards to his own theatrics and giving Jin a warm final embrace before ascending to Elysium by himself. Prior to the final battle, he angrily cites Jin's entire life as evidence for the inherent evil of the world and bitterly calls himself a irredeemable monster for being a direct cause of those tragedies.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite Malos' ultimate aim of destroying Alrest, he's disturbed by Akhos' suggestion to cut off one of Iona's fingers to goad Pyra into surrendering herself and vetoes the idea. He settles for just kidnapping her instead, showing he has some code of honor he adheres to and isn't soulessly evil.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • To Pyra/Mythra as another Aegis. Whereas her Driver manages to help her grow beyond her suicidal desire, Malos continued to be affected for the worse by Amalthus's egomania and hatred for life. Their elements are also opposite. Mythra and Pneuma's default element is Light, while Malos is Dark.
  • He is also this to Alvis, himself implied (and later confirmed) to be the missing third Aegis, as Malos's Aegis weapon more clearly resembles the Monado than Pyra and Mythra's, and like Alvis he is an AI of incredible power who nevertheless defers to others for direction. It's just unfortunate that his Driver was Amalthus instead of Shulk or Rex. Additionally Shulk as a Blade uses Alvis' Monado as a Light-element weapon, while Malos' is Darkness-based.
• Evil Is Hammy: He's easily the second most hammy character after Zeke.
• Expy: The Miang of Xenoblade 2, as a largely unfeeling AI and Evil Counterpart of the main heroine who loyally serves Amalthus's goal of annihilating the human race.
• Foreshadowing: Him preferring to let Jin take charge and make the actual decisions make perfect sense once it is revealed that he is an AI. While he has a will of his own, he needs a "user" for the inputs. When he said that he exists for Jin's sake, he wasn't exaggerating; all of his actions are driven by the wills of Amalthus and Jin.
• Graceful Loser: Even considering the fact that he's a Death Seeker, Malos isn't bothered by losing the Final Battle with the protagonists.
• Guest-Star Party Member: During the first dungeon in the story.
• Hartman Hips: A Gender-Inverted example. His armor emphasises his small waistline and relatively larger hips compared to other male characters. Becomes an Exaggerated Trope when Nia uses her Flesh-Eater powers to grow tumours around his hips and buttocks (among other places).
• Hero Killer: Kills Vandam when he tries to hold back both him and Akhos.
• Hey, You!: Even when he does start respecting Rex, he never once calls him by name, instead always using terms such as "kid" or "brat." The rest of Rex's party, aside from Nia and Pyra/Mythra, get even less recognition as he barely acknowledges them even existing.
• Hidden Depths:
  • He's introduced as being little more than Jin's brutish second-in-command. As early as the end of Chapter 1, it becomes clear that there's much, MUCH more to him than meets the eye.
  • Unused content found through datamining reveals Malos's favored pouch items to be similar to that of Mythra's, which include favoring dessert and art items and having one specific favorite seafood dish. It's interesting to perceive someone like Malos having a secret appreciation for such things.
  • Despite reveling in destruction, Malos does regret the pain he caused Jin when they were enemies.
• Jerkass: He is disdainful towards everyone except Jin and the rest of Torna.
• Kick the Dog: He claims that him needing to Mind Rape Pyra to restore his core crystal was Nothing Personal but deliberately going out of his way to erase her memories of Rex despite her protests was unnecessarily cruel.
• Large Ham: When he pulls out his real weapon, he also starts chewing the scenery.
• The Man in Front of the Man: Although Jin is initially presented as the leader of Torna, Malos is eventually revealed to be the one in charge, though he's content to let Jin make decisions or take point.
• Meaningful Name: His true name, "Logos", meaning among other things "Word of God" or "Reason" in Greek, relating to his desire of destroying the world since he believes that is what the Architect wants as well as corruption by his Driver. It also makes him the Mind of the Aegis trio, with Pneuma (Pyra/Mythra) being the Soul and the missing Ontos being the Body.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Both of his names. "Metsu" means destruction in Japanese while "Malos" means bad in Latin.
• Not Quite Dead: Several times:
  • Was thought to have been defeated by Mythra at the end of the Aegis War, but reappears five hundred years later as a member of Torna.
  • When Nia causes his cells to multiply and regrow at an extremely fast rate, he ends up incapacitated and mistaken for dead by the party - only to be found standing side-by-side with Jin immediately afterwards.
  • While Malos himself was Killed Off for Real at the end of 2, it's implied that his Core Crystal still exists as part of Consul N's sheathe, having somehow managed to reincarnate as the Logos core prior to the events of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Future Redeemed.
• Obviously Evil: He's in all black armor, has a name derived from the word evil, and one of his first actions is attacking Rex for little reason.
• Omnicidal Maniac: He wants to use Artifice Aion to destroy the world. It is later revealed that this is due to being influenced by the hatred of his Driver, Amalthus, and what he felt at the state of the world.
• Physical God: He is one of the Aegises, has the power to control Darkness, and has the power to control the Artifices including Aion, which can destroy the world.
• Purple Is Powerful: It shows in his darkness and destructive attacks, which are intermingled with black most of the time. It is also the color of his Core Crystal, a similar unique coloration like Pyra/Mythra's emerald one.
• Recurring Boss: He is the most fought boss in the game as well as the Final Boss.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Jin's blue.
• Reluctant Psycho: He really doesn't like the fact that Amalthus corrupted him into an Ax-Crazy Satanic Archetype. A lot of his motive is attempting to morally justify the fact he can't help but wanting to destroy things by claiming It Is Beyond Saving, seeing the world that creates a monster like him as beyond redemption.
• The Reveal: Not only is Malos a Blade, he's also an Aegis like Pyra created by the Architect.
• Reverse Grip: Wields his Sword Tonfa in this fashion. Averted when he regains his Aegis sword, which he wields with a regular grip.
• Satanic Archetype: Self describes himself like one. Feeling his purpose is to destroy everything the Architect created. Though in reality this thought process is due to corruption by Amalthus.
• Shared Family Quirks: Though following a loose definition of family and impossible to see through normal gameplay, datamining reveals that Malos has similar tastes in pouch items to Mythra, his fellow Aegis, both favoring desserts and art and especially liking a particular seafood dish, albeit different ones (Grilled Anchortail in his case and Cloud Sea Crab Sticks in hers.
  • His inability to possess true free will as an Artificial Intelligence like his sisters have due to their experiences with Addam is much like his brother Alvis, who was stuck in a similar situation as him due to being bonded with the respective Big Bad of his own game.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: In Chapter 10, when Rex tries to reason that the only reason Malos is so destructive is because of Amalthus, he responds with "I don't give a rat's ass what you think, brat!" and begins going on about how he in the end is an irredeemable monster.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: He is responsible for the most swearing in the game, and also the main villain. He's quite fond of Precision F-Strike in particular, and calls Rex a "little shit" numerous times over the course of the game.
• Sphere of Destruction: This is his real power once he repairs his Core Crystal, being able to create dark spheres that completely destroy anything that comes in contact with them.
• Status Buff: Can give these to his fellow Torna members in addition to debuffs to the player's party.
• Straw Nihilist: Just before the final battle, he outright admits to Rex that he sees the whole world as a wretched place and that he himself is a hideous abomination beyond saving, hence his wanting to destroy the world.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Takes up the villain role, in this case. He's certainly among the tallest of the main cast, wears black armor, and makes a lot of disdainful remarks and swears towards the heroes and sometimes on Torna.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Although Malos has long since figured out that his desire to destroy Alrest is actually Amalthus's will rather than his own, and greatly despises himself for it, he ultimately feels it is the only thing giving his life any sense of direction, and thus has convinced himself he is already too far gone to be redeemed or change for the better.
• Took a Level in Kindness: This actually is Malos after taking one. At some point between the prequel and the modern day, he begins suspecting that his impulse to destroy comes from Amalthus's will rather than his own, and so he's gone from eagerly embracing the atrocities he commits to hating himself for them. While he seems satisfied enough with the answer when the Architect tells him that both Malos and Amalthus came to the decision to destroy, in the following battle with the party he actively encourages them to do whatever it takes to stop him, in stark contrast to the playful narcissism he displayed 500 years ago. He also notably has come to care about his companions to some degree, whereas during the Aegis War he scoffed at the notion of cooperating with or needing anyone. Later in the game it becomes clear that Jin's life being as horrible as it is, partially due to his own actions, has given Malos an actual reason to want the world gone for allowing his new friend to suffer so much.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Is very much implied to have stoked Jin's nihilism after Lora died and gave him the idea to go to Elysium to exterminate humanity.
• Tragic Monster: He was doomed to become a weapon of mass destruction from the start due to being influenced by Almathus's seething hatred. He even calls himself a hideous monster beyond redemption. This question of free will is a major part of his desire to confront the Architect.
  That's it, that's exactly it! - I'm a wretched being too... a hideous monster far beyond saving!
• True Companions: He is surprisingly considerate to the rest of Torna, besides defectors such as Nia. In particular, he shares a genuine mutual respect with Jin, with Malos even giving him a final brotherly embrace before ascending to Elysium. Prior to the final battle, he cites Jin's life as the reason for his actions instead of his Driver Amalthus, who is the actual source of his malevolence.
• Unrealistic Black Hole: His main powerset involves creating very black hole-like spheres that disintegrate anything they touch. In the prequel, he can also use them to teleport.
• Villainous Breakdown: Becomes increasingly more unhinged in the final battle, where he drops any sense of calm he has and angrily shouts that he will burn the world unless Rex stops him.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: After Jin dies, he fully embraces his destructive potential in order to finish off the world he blames for his friend's death.
• World's Strongest Man: As an Aegis, Malos is comparable to Mythra going all out and thus more powerful than Jin, he can manipulate the power of darkness as that is his element, wields an Aegis sword that resembles the Monado, and he produces spheres of energy that destroy whatever they touch. As the Final Boss of the game he controls the most powerful artifice Aion, which has the power to destroy all of Alrest.
• Would Hit a Girl: He shows absolutely no hesitation to fight and hurt the female party members if they get in his way, though he does take a moment after punching Pyra in the gut to note that "hitting girls isn't as much fun", causing Akhos to sarcastically call him "the icon of chivalry."

Akhos (Yoshisune)

Voiced by: Nobunaga Shimazaki (Japanese), Hugo Harold-Harrison (English)

Torna's brains. Partnered with the Blade Obrona. Has the personality of a narcissistic playwright, often making theater-related metaphors when around his allies or against his enemies.

---

• Alas, Poor Villain: Twice. First, when Obrona is killed by her Core Crystal being pierced. Second when his "sister" Patroka dies and he spends his last minutes trying to avenge her and thinking about Jin.
• Alternate Self: In New Game Plus, Akhos can be awakened from a Core Crystal. Like Patroka, this is a new incarnation of Akhos, having lost his memories, and not the same one who worked with Torna.
• Attack Reflector: Obrona allows him to reflect attacks by harnessing the ether in the air.
• Combat Medic: His Blade role compared to Patroka, who's focused on offense, and Mikhail, who serves as the tank.
• Dual Boss: With Malos in their second encounter. Later joining his sister Patroka and Mikhail in his third fight.
• Dual Wielding: Uses two katanas together, courtesy of Obrona.
• Easily Forgiven: Somewhat subverted. Post-battle banter between him and Mòrag has the latter remark that it feels strange for the two of them fighting on the same side after all that has happened, hinting that despite being able to join the heroes in New Game Plus, Akhos's atrocities as part of Torna are still remembered.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • He cares about Obrona, enough that he drops his usual arrogant act when she's killed by Mythra.
  • He's also very close with his "sister" Patroka.
  • He idolizes Jin and follows him for saving him in the past.
• Evil Genius: He is Torna's brains.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Wears glasses and has no problem trying to kill the heroes on multiple occasions, or helping Jin and Malos in their plan to destroy Alrest.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Uses two of them. Later switching to a bow after Obrona reverts to a core crystal.
• Like Brother and Sister: Considers Patroka his sister. Later revealed to be due to their Drivers being siblings, and those same siblings' cells being integrated into their bodies.
• Meaningful Name:
  • His Japanese name refers to Minamoto no Yoshitsune, a famous nobleman and military commander of late Heian Era Japan. Ironically, Minamoto no Yoshitsune is often depicted as a heroic figure, while this Yoshitsune is a villain. Can be played as a hero in New Game Plus upon awakening him from a Core Crystal.
  • His English name is Greek, and means "Distress", "Pain" or "Ache", which is fitting considering how he acts like a dramatic playwright and actually is one, as revealed in a Heart-to-Heart. It also evokes the famous Greek hero Achilles.
• Moveset Clone: As a Blade, his Calamity Scythe uses the same Art animation as a Greataxe.
• Morph Weapon: His Blade weapon can change between a bow, a scythe, and a shield.
• Not So Stoic:
  • Despite his usually calm temperament, watching Obrona die at the hands of Mythra causes him to freak out and scream her name. He regains his composure by the next time Rex and the party encounter him.
  Obrona: Wha... What is this? Akhos?! [dies]
  Akhos:OBRONA!!
  • He loses it again when Amalthus kills Patroka and steals her Core Crystal. He tries to fight back, but ends up with the same fate.
• Oh, Crap!: When Mythra awakens and begins raining Siren's lasers down on him and Malos he has this reaction.
  "I... I don't think we can win this!"
• Prima Donna Director: He acts like a narcissistic playwright, throwing acting terms everywhere and throwing a fit whenever something "goes off-script". His Heart-to-Heart reveals he actually is a playwright. He also likes to invoke situations in real life as inspiration.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Patroka's red. Also fitting as he wears blue armor.
• The Reveal: He is a Flesh Eater Blade.
• Shock and Awe: His element as a Blade.
• Sinister Scythe: Another form his weapon takes aside from a bow is a kama officially called the Calamity Scythe. In New Game Plus, its game-play is similar to an axe.
• The Straight and Arrow Path: His weapon after losing Obrona. New Game+ seems to confirm the bow is Akhos's actual Blade weapon.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: His appearance regarding his hairstyle and glasses, as well as a personality filled arrogance, paints him as a villainous version of H.B. Also helps that both share the same Japanese voice actor.
• Supreme Chef: He's skilled at cooking, even getting praise from Patroka about how good he is at it. The idea that Pyra can outdo him at cooking because he hates the idea of touching disgusting ingredients, the Argentum Monkfish in particular, sparks his competitive nature. It's certainly a step up from Mòrag and Brighid's time with the Monkfish.
• Undying Loyalty: To Jin who he obeys without question. Even his support of Torna's goal to destroy everything is because Jin wants it more than anything. Even as he dies as a result of Amalthus, his last thoughts are of when he first met Jin. In New Game Plus, he also declares eternal loyalty to his Driver upon awakening from a Core Crystal.
  "The legendary Akhos, forever... at your service."
• Would Hurt a Child: Sadistically remarks that he felt it would've been more effective to send Iona's finger to the heroes as a means of motivating Pyra to come alone and surrender herself. Even Malos is a little too disturbed by it despite himself being an Omnicidal Maniac.

Patroka (Benkei)

Voiced by: Yuri Noguchi (Japanese), Laila Pyne (English)

A Driver partnered with fellow Driver Mikhail to oversee the manufacturing of artificial Blades by Bana. Has a cold and indifferent demeanor, as well as a hidden temper, but still loyally follows her directives.

---

• Alternate Self: In New Game Plus, Patroka can be awakened from a Core Crystal. Like Akhos, this is a new incarnation of Patroka, having lost her memories, and not the same one who worked with Torna.
• Big Eater: Hinted at and downplayed from her's and Akhos's Heart-to-Hearts as food is constantly brought up in both. In Akhos's Heart-to-Heart, one choice has him base the role of the worthless glutton off of Patroka in one of his scripts.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: She prefers doing nothing, is indifferent to most things, and is easily bored, but she can kick ass when needed.
• Dark Action Girl: Fights on the side of the antagonists and is very hotheaded and aggressive.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Her element as a Blade.
• Dual Boss: With Mikhail during their first encounter. Her second encounter includes him and Akhos.
• Easily Forgiven: Post-battle banter in New Game Plus with Nia has Patroka remark that she thinks they knew each other before. Nia simply responds to let bygones be bygones.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Amalthus kills her from behind with one of his tentacles, tearing out and absorbing her Core Crystal.
• Irony: The first option in Perdido's Heart-to-Heart has Patroka expressing how glad she is that she's not Perdido's Driver.
• Mask of Sanity: She initially appears stoic and taking her orders first and foremost compared to the jovial Mikhail. Once her Blade's Core Crystal gets destroyed, she quickly reveals herself to be Not So Stoic and attempts to destroy them all until Fan La Norne and Mikhail intervened. Her aggressive nature later makes it clear her professional initial appearance was just a front.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Benkai", her Japanese name, refers to Musashibo Benkei. While a Gender-Blender Name due to Benkei being male, her Blade wields multiple weapons at once, which is what Benkei was known for. New Game Plus reveals that she's also an avid collector of weapons.
  • "Patrokha", her English name, refers to Patroklos, who had a close bond to Achilles that has varyingly been interpreted as friendship, romantic, or sometimes familial, but consistently close. Akhos and Patrokha aren't literal family, but they have the closest bond within Torna due to their Drivers having been siblings.
• Moveset Clone: As a Blade her Cobra Bardiche uses the same Art animation as a Megalance.
• Neat Freak: A New Game Plus Heart-to-Heart reveals that she hates mess and people that appear cute in public, but leave messes everywhere at their homes.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Akhos's blue. Helps that she has a bit of red in her attire.
• The Reveal: She is a Flesh Eater Blade.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Her relationship with Mikhail has elements of this, as she will get aggressive and hit him when he gets flirty. One of the endings to his Heart-to-Heart is her chasing Mikhail down to beat him up, getting Mikhail's Driver to comment how close they are.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Mostly ice and very little sugar, but she does care for her comrades under certain degrees. It should be noted that in New Game Plus upon reaching max Affinity with her in battle, Patroka will proudly remark that her Driver is growing on her and that they should hang out some time as another line.
• Sweet Tooth: Her Trademark Favorite Food is Odifa Gelée Tart.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Crude and violent as she is, her Heart-to-Heart reveals her to be a Neat Freak, going as far as to organize her weapon collection by size. One of her favored item categories also happens to be cosmetics, suggesting that she does care about her appearance.
• The Smurfette Principle: She is the only female member of Torna following Nia's defection early in the game.
• Tsundere: Type A, in the sense that she does care about Mikhail in her own violent way, claiming she's the only one allowed to kill him when Mikhail proceeds with his attack on Amalthus. In New Game Plus, apparently, this explains how Mikhail survived as he's scared of the consequences of going against her order.
• Undying Loyalty: Not to the same extent as Akhos, but she's loyal to Jin as well. Though she will question and defy Jin's orders unlike him.

Mikhail (Satahiko)

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese), Todd Kramer (English)

A Driver partnered with fellow Driver Patroka, the two overseeing the deal of artificial Blades sold between Bana and Torna. A huge flirt towards women, especially towards Patroka, but despite all this, he's rather laid back.

For tropes applying to Mikhail in Torna ~ The Golden Country, see here.

---

• Aerith and Bob: Has a relatively mundane Russian name compared to the very unusual names of his fellows. This hints his nature as being a Blade Eater rather than a Flesh Eater.
• Boomerang Bigot: Openly admits he hates humans when, as Nia points out, he is a human and the Token Human at that of Torna given his Blade Eater status while everyone else is either a Blade or Flesh Eater.
• Casanova Wannabe: Tries flirting with Mythra and Mòrag in Chapter 6 and does it frequently with Patroka. Naturally they all aggressively turn him down. However, Patroka is implied to have some sort of feelings towards him after he pulls his Heroic Sacrifice.
• Casting a Shadow: His element as a Blade.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Appears in a few of the flashbacks with Mythra and Addam as a child, as shown when he reveals himself to Amalthus as another Blade Eater.
• Combat Hand Fan: Wields them as a Blade Eater. They're called the Infinity Fans.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He was sold to a village as a slave, and ended up being the only survivor when bandits destroyed it, only to be taken in by Lora and her allies afterwards. Then he lost that family thanks to Amalthus and was experimented on. Notably he admits to never caring about humanity since he was a child as a result, with his adoptive family being what gave him hope in the world.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Finds Mythra beautiful when she uses her power to destroy his and Patroka's Blade Cores. And again with Mòrag when they clash at the end of Chapter 6 and he declares her to be quite a looker.
• Draw Aggro: Effectively serves as the party tank in fights with multiple Torna members, even having an ability to force the player's party to constantly draw aggro to him.
• Dual Boss: With Patroka during their first encounter. Then again in his second boss fight including her and Akhos.
• Dual Wield: Both his fist and fan weapons.
• Easily Forgiven: The party easily accepts his offer to help them in New Game Plus post his attempted Heroic Sacrifice, despite his past actions of terrorism. And because he still has his memories, unlike the rest of the Torna Blades, he can still technically be held accountable for his actions.
• Everyone Has Standards: He makes no effort to cause collateral damage on Indol out of sympathy for the refugees (fitting, as he is one himself), and is utterly disgusted by Amalthus starting his war for the World Tree without evacuating them first, though not disgusted enough to hold back in the fight and destroy Indol.
• Fake American: In-Universe, he's a mortal-born Blade-Eater, but speaks with an American accent like Blades do. In The Golden Country, he speaks with a British accent as a child.
• Foreshadowing: People paying even a little attention during his and Patroka's second appearance will be able to spot that unlike Akhos and Patroka, his Core Crystal is a visibly untainted blue. This makes the later reveal that he's not a Flesh Eater at all a lot more predictable; all Flesh Eaters have shades of red in their Core Crystals, but the only other Blade Eater seen before the reveal, Zeke, keeps Pandoria's crystal colour with no alteration.
• Heel–Face Turn: In New Game Plus. If the party travels to the Megaflote Base of the World Tree after Mikhail does his Heroic Sacrifice, they'll find that he survived with a new lease on life and is willing to lend a hand with helping them meet the Architect. Notably, this makes him the only Torna Blade who still has his memories, as he was originally human and has no Core Crystal to return to.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Commits one to protect his comrades in Torna and so Rex and the others can stop Jin, piloting his Humongous Mecha against Amalthus and destroying the Indol Titan along with seemingly himself in a massive explosion. Averted in New Game Plus, allowing him to be recruited just like the rest of the Torna Blades. He believes Patroka's claim to being the only one allowed to kill him was what helped him survive as he was scared of the consequences.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: He knows when to retreat when Fan la Norne shows up, taking Patroka away while she seeks to rampage. Not too surprising, considering he knew the former pretty well when she was known as Haze during her time as Lora's Blade back during The Aegis War, and as he isn't a Blade and thus has no Core Crystal to return to he still remembers exactly what she can do.
• Love Confession: He gives one to Patroka before his Heroic Sacrifice. Given his status as the Casanova Wannabe and how much he teases her it's open to interpretation if it was genuine, but her response and other interactions suggest it was.
• Meaningful Name: His Japanese name Satahiko (also variously spelled Sarutahiko) is named for the husband of the goddess of dance in Shinto, and he fights with elegant Combat Hand Fans.
• Moveset Clone: As a Blade his Infinity Fans use the same Art animation as Twin Rings.
• Mutual Kill: The Marsanes and Indol destroy each other, though ironically Amalthus and (as revealed in New Game Plus) Mikhail himself survive the explosion.
• Power Fist: His initial weapon when with his Blade.
• Restored My Faith in Humanity: Upon encountering Rex and the party his own hatred starts to dissuade as they remind him of how things were 500 years ago in Torna with Addam, Jin, and everyone else after they took him in. In New Game Plus, after surviving his Heroic Sacrifice against Indol, he's willing to even team up with Rex and friends as he believes they have the answer everyone's looking for.
• The Reveal: He is not a Flesh Eater like his fellow Tornans; he is the inverse, a Blade Eater, which makes him immune to Fan la Norne's power used by Amalthus. Being a Blade Eater has also allowed him to live for more than five hundred years while still looking quite young.
• Sorry That I'm Dying: His last words as he prepares his Heroic Sacrifice to destroy Indol are an apology to Jin, stating that "we're going on ahead" referencing himself and Lora's body. Subverted in New Game Plus, where it's revealed he actually survived.
• Tag Along Kid: He used to be this to Addam's original group with Milton during the Aegis War 500 years ago after he was discovered by Lora and Jin.
• Token Good Teammate: Despite his own nihilism, he is the only member of the main Torna team to have open reservations about Jin's goals, wanting to believe they're hyperbole and questioning if killing everything can really be justified.
• Token Human: He's the only member of Torna to have been born a human. Malos is an Aegis and pure Blade, while the other members, Nia included, are all Flesh Eaters who started as normal Blades. Mikhail is a Blade Eater like Zeke and Amalthus, both of whom are considered human.
• Walking Spoiler: As you may have noticed by the number of spoiler tags, it's hard to talk about Mikhail and his backstory without revealing some of the bigger twists in the plot.
• War Refugees: Originally a human survivor of the destruction of Torna 500 years ago, and also survived after Amalthus's army wiped out most of the survivors who were loyal to Addam and Tornan culture.

Obrona (Kamui)

Voiced by: Yuri Yamaoka (Japanese), Naomi McDonald (English)

Akhos's Blade, seems to have the ability to stagnate ether flow, as well as the ability to locate other Blades' energy signals from several kilometers away. She's wild, untameable, and childish.

---

• Ascended Extra: In New Game Plus, she's a recruitable Blade and fleshed out in events like her Heart-to-Heart.
• Dual Wielding: Wields the Brilliant Twinblades.
• Fragile Speedster: She is an attacker Blade with an agility mod.
• Hidden Depths: Despite her impulsive and childish personality, one choice in her Heart-to-Heart reveals her rather profound view on the freedom of choice, considering that right to be her way of freedom since as a Blade, she is tied down to her Driver's life.
• I Just Want to Be Free: Her Heart-to-Heart showcases her untameable nature, to which Akhos prompts her to continue being herself to use as inspiration for his play on his free-spirited heroine riding on the wings of freedom.
• Moveset Clone: Her Brilliant Twinblades use the same art animation as Twin Rings.
• Not Quite Flight: Her Heart-to-Heart in the New Game Plus explains that her wing-like organs, although they don't flap, can manipulate the ether flow in the air to provide her with flight. She even says they're better than regular wings as they won't be hindered by wind or weather.
• Psychopathic Womanchild: Speaks in a high-pitched childish voice while sharing Akhos's sadistic tendencies, even repeating some last words he says.
• Shock and Awe: Her Blade element is Electric.
• Speech Impediment: Speaks with a childish lisp.
• Story-Breaker Power: She can sense global Ether patterns, which amounts to giving Torna accurately tracking of every Driver and Blade in existence, and can choke Blades of their Ether up close, crippling their effectiveness. Is it any wonder she's out of the picture in the same chapter she debuts?
• Trademark Favorite Food: In New Game Plus, seafood is her favored category with Tantalese Porridge being her favorite item. Her obsession with fish gets to the point that her field skill is Ichthyology.
• Too Powerful to Live: Her ability to track Blades and cut off their Ether would make it nearly impossible for Rex and co. to do anything without Torna constantly harassing them. So of course she dies shortly after she's introduced.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Gets killed rather suddenly along with Malos' Blade Sever at the end of Chapter 3 by Mythra's powers piercing her Core Crystal.

Sever (Zantetsu)

Voiced by: Anri Katsu (Japanese), Eric Meyers (English)

Malos's Blade, a wind-based Blade that looks like a cross between a reptile and a Xenomorph alien that's just as vicious and brutish as his Driver with an unorthodox shapeshifting weapon.

---

• Blood Knight: His developed personality in New Game Plus has him love tearing enemies apart to the point that his passives grant extra power for ambushing from behind. The names of his Specials also denote his violent nature. Seeing how his Driver was Malos, this was pretty much a given.
• Blow You Away: His element is Wind.
• Evil Laugh: About half his dialogue in New Game Plus has him cackling in some way.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Serves as Malos's Blade during Chapter 1. Averted in New Game Plus if you can awaken him from a Core Crystal as early as possible.
• I Just Want to Be Free: His Heart-to-Heart showcases his desire to not be tied down to others and be a free soul. He does admit to liking his Driver despite this.
• I Work Alone: In New Game Plus, his Heart-to-Heart, fittingly called "Lone Wolf," shows that he prefers being alone as to not worry about burdens. Nonetheless, he does tolerate Rex and his friends and doesn't mind being with them.
• Lizard Folk: His appearance invokes this.
• Meaningful Name: He likes to tear foes apart.
• Morph Weapon: Sever's weapon takes several forms, inclusing a shield/knuckleduster hybrid, a straight-bladed longsword, and a reverse-grip blade that seems to be a mix of both.
• Moveset Clone: His Sword Tonfa uses the same Art animation as Knuckle Claws.
• Pungeon Master: Makes a lot of puns related to cutting and slicing enemies, further alluding to his vicious nature.
• Satellite Character: Mostly serves as a background character and lends Malos his weapon; aside from a few overworld lines (and a brief stint as an interactable NPC) he barely says anything. Gets more development in New Game Plus upon recruitment.
• Sssssnake Talk: Comes with being a reptile-based Blade, occasionally drawing out the S's and hissing like a snake.
• Tsundere: His Heart-to-Heart mainly has him complaining about his life being tied to his Driver and being forced to travel with the main party, but Cressidus points out that he seems to enjoy the experience regardless and Sever does admit to liking his Driver.
  Sever: It's all fine. I don't have any particular objection to being around you.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Shares this dynamic with Cressidus as shown in Sever's Heart-to-Heart.
• Vocal Evolution: During his time as Malos' Blade, he spoke in a low, whispering voice. As a recruitable Blade in New Game Plus, his voice has a lot more volume to it.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: While he's in more cutscenes than Obrona is, he has only a tiny handful of lines before he's obliterated by Siren at the end of chapter 3. Of course, in New Game Plus, he gains a developed personality as a recruitable Blade.
• Xenomorph Xerox: His body shape greatly resembles a Xenomorph, with his sleek black armor, lizard tail, hunched posture, digitigrade legs, and a sharp, angular jaw.

Perdido (Rago)

Voiced by: Keiji Hirai (Japanese), Joseph May (English)

Patroka's fire-based Blade. A noble and reserved warrior with four arms with each wielding one weapon while his Driver uses his cannon, he aims to master his melee weapons.

---

• Affectionate Nickname: He calls Zeke "Lord Thunderbolt" if he's his Driver in NG+.
• All There in the Manual: Is only named in the artbook and New Game +.
• Dual Wielding: Quad-wielding.
• Moveset Clone: His Decimation Cannon uses the same Art animation as an Ether Cannon.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Four arms, one for each weapon.
• Multi-Melee Master: Carries a Greataxe, Megalance, Shield Hammer and Chroma Katana, while Patroka uses his cannon.
• Noble Demon:
  • His Heart-to-Heart shows him to be a noble warrior who prefers melee combat with his four weapons to using his cannon. He also makes it clear four arms isn't an advantage over opponents since novices with four arms would still lose out to an experienced warrior.
  • He's rather chivalrous when referring to his Drivers. He addresses Nia and Mòrag as "Lady Nia" and "Lady Mòrag", while addressing Rex as "Master Rex". With Zeke, Perdido refers to him as Lord Thunderbolt.
  • Out of all his weapons, he gives his Driver his Decimation Cannon to use simply because "it doesn't suit his style."
  • He also seems to play along with Zeke's Eye of Shining Justice shtick.
• Playing with Fire: His element is Fire.
• Shout-Out: His greyish-white, slender, four-armed appearance and his knack for utilizing multiple weapons at once in each hand can be seen as one to General Grievous. Although his Driver, Patroka, seems to have picked up Grievous' trait for indiscriminately collecting a particular weapon type, while Perdido is rather picky about the craftsmanship of his weapons.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Doesn't get a single cutscene line before Mythra offs him.

Cressidus (Ootsuchi)

Voiced by: Kentaro Tone (Japanese), Kerry Shale (English)

Mikhail's Blade. A large and self-proclaimed heavyweight Blade champion with earth power.

---

• All There in the Manual: Is only named in the artbook and New Game +.
• Dishing Out Dirt: His element is Earth.
• Dual Wielding: Wields one weapon per fist.
• Gentle Giant: He's actually a pretty nice guy despite being part of Torna. His voiced lines and quotes from his affinity chart in New Game Plus denotes this. Given that his former Driver was Mikhail, it might be a given.
• Large Ham: His personality is that of a bombastic wrestler. His awakening has him narrate himself as a heavyweight Blade champion.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: His kuckle duster/tonfa weapons can expand and merge to form a shield.
• Moveset Clone: His Rockrending Gauntlets use the same Art animation as Knuckle Claws.
• Real Men Eat Meat: In New Game Plus, he favors the meat category and his Trademark Favorite Food is Mustard Kordeth. His affinity chart can potentially be instantly unlocked on all five levels at once if the player has stored a lot of meat items from the previous playthrough.
• Real Men Wear Pink: In New Game Plus, he has access to Botany as a field skill.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Stellar Explosion, his level IV Blade Special.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Shares this dynamic with Sever as shown in Sever's Heart-to-Heart.
• Vocal Dissonance: You wouldn't expect a big guy like him to have such a goofy-sounding voice, at least in the English Dub.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Is killed along with Perdido before getting a single cutscene line.