Amalthus

"To remind myself, I must never forget what kind of beings humans are. A long time ago... I seemed to recall seeing a very similar scene... Perhaps... That too was one face of humanity..."

- Amalthus's discussion with Zeke.

"Father... Why do you not answer when I call... Mother, I've...missed you..."

- Amalthus's last words.

Prateor Amalthus (simply known as Amalthus) is the main antagonist of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. He is an Indoline Blade Eater who rules Indoline Prateorium as its Praetor. He was the Driver of Fan la Norne, Minoth, and Malos.

He is voiced by Junichi Suwabe in the Japanese version, and Corey Johnson in the English version.

Appearance
Although Amalthus appears to have a young appearance, he is actually a very old man, having lived before the events of the Aegis War. He has light blue skin, white hair, and wears a royal outfit.

After absorbing all of the Core Crystals that he has gathered, his general appearance has taken on more of a monstrous appearance, in addition to gaining red eyes and blue tentacles made out of energy.

Personality
Initially, Amalthus appears to be a calm and respectful man. He is very appreciative, welcoming and caring for his guests, to the point that he allowed them to stay at his Sanctum.

However, in truth, Amalthus is a cold-hearted and psychopathic individual who is hell-bent on the destruction of humanity. Ever since the death of his mother, he has developed a motive of wiping out humanity from existence. He believes that it is the Architect's will of cleansing the world by destroying humanity. According to Pyra, Amalthus' hatred and anger is the main influence of Malos' destructive and dangerous nature.

Despite this, he is not a complete monster. He still holds a heart for others. This is shown when he saved Zeke from near death for Pandoria's sake.

Prior Events
Many years ago, Amalthus and his mother were on the run from a group of men. His mother decided to get rid of him, by pushing him down a tree, in order for him to save his life. When Amalthus awoken from his fall, he stumbled around the forest, until he came across the men that killed his mother. Devastated at the sight of his mother's corpse, he grabbed a rock and proceeded to kill one of the men with it.

Since then, Amalthus has traveled around Alrest, assisting those in need and sharing his ideas. When he walked around in a forest, he came across a house where he discovered a soldier that he healed was ready to kill a woman and her child. Amalthus, however, prevented the man from doing so and instead killed him. He then took the baby with him, calming it down, and watched the skies, wondering what the Architect's true intentions were when creating the world.

Some time later, Amalthus traveled to the World Tree, where he managed to reach to Elysium. There, he came across the Aegis Core Crystals, which he ended up taking home with him. When he returned to his home, Amalthus grabbed the purple Core Crystal, which as a result, awoken Malos. Malos proceeded to destroy humanity, while Amalthus left the other Core Crystal for the time being.

Eventually, Amalthus passed down the Core Crystal to Addam, who unleashed it, awakening the Aegis Mythra. Together, they were able to defeat Malos in the Aegis War. After the war, Amalthus became Praetor of Indoline Praetorium and began to gather Core Crystals around the world. He would later use these Core Crystals to create Blade Eaters, by fusing them with children.

At some point, Amalthus came across Pandoria, who was grieving over the fact that Zeke was ready to die. Amalthus decided to split Pandoria's Core Crystal and place it in Zeke, making him a Blade Eater. Preventing him from death, Amalthus promoted Zeke as his special envoy and gave him the task to find the Aegis and its new Driver.

Present Time
Zeke managed to fulfill his task and brings Rex (along with his companions) to the Indoline Praetorium, where they met with Amalthus himself. Rex tried to properly introduce himself, but Amalthus assured that it was not needed, as he considered him and Rex as equals. Rex then hands him back the dagger that he once wielded when Minoth (now named Cole) was his Blade and talks to him about how he wishes to reach to Elysium. Amalthus replies that he thought of the same thing as well and that he will assist him in his quest, but as he spoke, Rex felt the presence of Malos within him.

Later on, Amalthus is seen outside looking at an ancient painting, while discussing with Pyra/Mythra about whether humanity is changing or regressing itself.

After ending up in the Land of Morytha, Jin reveals to Rex and his friends that the reason Torna was destroyed was because of Amalthus's actions, revealing him to be the true antagonist plotting everything.

Meanwhile, Amalthus begins preparations of leading his army to the World Tree, planning on destroying Jin and Malos. He sends a group of soldiers to order Rex to use the power of the Aegis and destroy the Tornan warship. However, Rex refuses and defeats them in battle. A hologram of Amalthus is then projected, in which he reveals that he was the one who stole Fan la Norne's Core Crystal, and as a result, is able to control the Blades and Titans. With this power, he forces Mythra into summoning Siren to destroy the Tornan warship, but she resists. Rex was then able to break Mythra free from the control.

Eventually, Amalthus begins to call in all of Titans and commands them to destroy the World Tree. However, his mind control was eventually broken by Rex and Mythra, with the assistance of Poppi. Mikhail was then able to save them from being blasted to smithereens. While Rex and Mythra continue on with their friends, Mikhail proceeds to hold off Amalthus as long as he could. He sacrificed himself by coming in collision with Indol.

Last Stand
Amalthus survived the explosion, however, and with the power of all the Core Crystals he's absorbed, he confronts Rex, Jin and everyone else in the World Tree. He kills Akhos and Patroka and absorbs their power, then proceeds to fight the heroes. He is defeated, then Jin proceeds to use his powers to freeze him to a wall, while impaling him with ice shards. Amalthus begins to slowly die, questioning why the Architect won't answer him when he calls. Before he dies, he got the chance to see his mother one last time in the light, reuniting with her at last.

Trivia

 * Amalthus serves as a foil character to the game's protagonist, Rex. While Rex loves Alrest and the people in general, Amalthus despises Alrest and humanity, wishing to bring them to extinction.
 * Amalthus may serve as a representation of Zanza, as Zanza originally wished to destroy all life on Bionis and Mechonis, only to restart it in an endless cycle. In addition, Zanza is a god, while Amalthus is essentially the pope.