Z (Xenoblade Chronicles)

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Evil-doer
Full Name	Unknown
Alias	Z
Origin	Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Occupation	Master of the Consuls Sentient AI
Powers / Skills	Dusk Immortality
Hobby	Manipulating others.
Goals	Manipulate multiple people into becoming Moebius. Have N kill Alpha, in order to preserve his world and regain control of Origin (both succeeded). Keep the world of Aionios under his control. Obliterate all of existence to maintain the status quo Kill Noah and his friends (both failed).
Crimes	Mass murder Abuse of power Attempted omnicide Kidnapping Vandalism War crimes
Type of Villain	Omnipresent Manipulator

“	Human desires can be... much likened to a river flowing. All humanity yearns for it... the endless now. That is why I'm here, you'll find.	„
	~ Z

“	Why do you recoil from taking lives?	„
	~ Z to the Ouroboros in the final chapter.

“	And when you cannot choose? What then? In that desperate moment, who will be there to soothe you? The self is all that exists! As such, the only cure for despair is total oblivion! That is the face of the world! I hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it! This rotten world... I LOATHE IT!!!	„
	~ Z's breakdown.

Z is the main antagonist of the 2022 video game Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and a minor antagonist in its DLC expansion Future Redeemed. He is the leader of the Consuls who oversees the world of Aionios under his control. Born from the fears and uncertainty of humanity, Z desires to preserve the world into an eternal state of conflict, as a way to maintain the status quo of humanity.

He was voiced by Akio Ōtsuka in Japanese and Harry Lloyd (who also portrayed Viserys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, Viktor in Arcane, Ultima in Final Fantasy XVI, and Son of Mine of the Family of Blood in the Doctor Who episodes "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood") in English.

Appearance

Z is a humanoid warrior. He has long gray hair, red eyes, purple shadow tattoos on his face, and two purple shadow flames protruding from his head. He wears a dark red costume with purple neon patterns on his outfit.

As his true form Z∞, he takes the form of a massive head resembling the regular Z, only his skin is dark purple.

Biography

The worlds of Bionis and Alrest, created by Klaus in his experiments, started to merge back together again after an unknown time of events. Fearing the end of their universes, Queen Melia of Bionis and Queen Nia of Alrest created two halves of a massive circular ark called Origin, a contraption containing the souls and knowledge of all lifeforms so that they would be "reborn" upon the creation of the new world.

However, Origin's artificial intelligence became corrupted by the desires of humanity's unwillingness to change. This created an entity that hijacked Origin and had frozen both worlds in time, creating a third one in-between composed of elements from both worlds. The entity, calling himself Z, captured Melia and cursed her into cryogenic sleep to obtain control over her side of Origin. Nia escaped and was able to create a team of resistance fighters capable to confront Z, called the Ouroboros before hiding herself away within Cloudkeep.

With both queens absent, Z created mechanical duplicates to serve as the leaders of two new nations of his new world Aionois, called Keves and Agnus, with the souls collected from Origin used to create child soldiers living only ten years to battle each side to the death in a continuous non-stop battle. During their bloodshed, Z manipulated several souls of the deceased with the offer of immortality and entertainment, as long as they served him and ensured the war remained in an eternal stalemate. Those became the Consuls.

Some time following Z's takeover of Origin, the Core Crystal containing Ontos awoke and sought to destroy Aionios so everyone would live in peace in the Ark, a city held by the memories of Origin, leaving no trace of the past. Shulk and Rex, accompanied by Z, attempted to stop Ontos, or "Alpha" as he called himself, but were defeated. Afterwards, Z sent N to destroy Alpha on his behalf.

In the game's climax, the party save Ghondor and Monica and raid Origin itself, defeating N, X, and Y before confronting Z within the amphitheater he watched their progress from. With the help of Queen Melia, Queen Nia, and the heroes they befriended on their journey, the party defeats Z and his true form, Z∞. But Z attempted to self-destruct to take out all of Aionios with him until the spirits of N and M sacrifice themselves to destroy Z, putting an end to his tyranny for good and restoring both worlds back to normal.

Gallery

Concept art of Z.

Z with the other Consuls.

Trivia

• Z's name is pronounced "Zed" in both British and American English. While the letter Z is pronounced "Zee" in American English and "Zed" everywhere else, some American players pronounce his name "Zee" or spell it phonetically as "Zed".