Xenogears/Characters

Xenogears’ nine playable characters hail from different areas of the game's world. The game begins on Ignas, a continent with two countries, Aveh and Kislev. Fei and Citan at first appear to be from this land, although it is later learned that they are from Shevat and Solaris, respectively. Fei is the story's protagonist, and has initially lost his memories of his past. Citan is an intelligent man whose knowledge of the world and technology often aids in the party's quest. Bart, a spunky desert pirate, is also from Ignas and is the rightful heir to the throne of Aveh. Rico, a demi-human with incredible strength, lives in a Kislev prison, spending his days as a Gear battling champion. Solaris, a hidden city of advanced technology, is home to several characters in the game. Billy, a pious worker for the Ethos religious group, was originally from Solaris. Elly, a Gebler officer of Solaris, is destined to be near Fei and falls in love with him by the end of the game. Maria and Chu-Chu are both from Shevat, the floating city and the only place resisting Solaris' domination. Emeralda is a colony of nanomachines from the ancient civilization Zeboim.

The main antagonists, Krelian and Miang, are both leaders of Solaris who seek to revive Deus, a mechanical god that fell to earth thousands of years ago. Grahf, a mysterious man with immense power, follows Fei and his group and often fights them, though he keeps his goals a mystery. Many of the characters of Xenogears are not who they first appear to be and many have distinct roles in the game's fictional timeline. Fei, Elly, and Miang have been reincarnated several times throughout the game's history.

Fei Fong Wong
Fei Fong Wong (ウォン・フェイフォン, Won Fei Fon?) is the game's main character. His name is based on the legendary Wong Fei Hung and in katakana is written exactly the same as that of the Guangdong hero. Fei has lived in the village of Lahan for three years and has no memory before that point in time. After being responsible for the destruction of Lahan, Fei joins with Citan Uzuki and other allies to uncover the web of deception and manipulation surrounding Solaris, and ultimately, Deus. Fei experiences frequent memory loss and is unknowingly Id, a powerful individual who is the product of Fei's pain and anguish at a critically young age. Known as the -Contact-, he is just one of numerous reincarnations of Abel, the sole survivor of the Eldridge crash. A strong fighter, Fei fights with his bare fists in battle.

Elly Van Houten
Elhaym Van Houten (エレハイム・ヴァン・ホーテン, Erehaimu Van Hōten?), nicknamed Elly (エリィ, Erii?), is a young skilled officer of Gebler who meets Fei in the forest near Lahan Village. Elly was leading an operation to steal a top-secret experiment gear from Kislev, but was forced to crash-land in Lahan, and was partially responsible for the destruction of the village. Her encounter with Fei changes her life forever. Elly is an optimist, and wants to help Fei, despite the fact that he is a land dweller, and she cannot leave the military. She is a competent fighter with her rods, but she has powerful elemental ether, which makes her valuable to the party. Known as the -Antitype-, she has been reincarnated numerous times throughout history along with Fei.

Citan Uzuki
Citan Uzuki (シタン・ウヅキ, Shitan Uzuki?) is a medical doctor who lives up the mountain path from Lahan village with his wife, Yui, and his daughter, Midori. Despite living on the surface, Citan was actually born in Solaris, and his real name is Hyuga Ricdeau (ヒュウガ・リクドウ, Hyuuga Rikudou?). Citan is a Solaris Guardian Angel, and is working under instructions from the Solaris Emperor to observe Fei to see if he will bring relief or destruction to the world. A very smart individual, Citan is responsible for the development of many of the Gears seen in the game. He has a history with number of individuals including Ramsus, Sigurd and Jessie. Citan initially fights with his bare fists but uses a sword later in the game.

Bart Fatima
Bartholomew Fatima is the leader of a group of sand pirates who befriends Fei and Citan after shooting down a prison ship that they were on. Bart is the rightful heir to the kingdom of Aveh, his family having been forced out of the country by Solaris agent Shakhan a number of years before. He leads the sand pirates in their giant submarine Yggdrasil. Bart is constantly accompanied by his mentor and half-brother, Sigurd, as well as the well-mannered Maison. He uses a whip in battle.

Rico Banderas
Ricardo Banderas (リカルド・バンデラス, Rikarudo Banderasu?), nicknamed Rico (リコ, Riko?), is a massive demi-human and champion Gear fighter in Nortune, the imperial capital of Kislev. He has a sturdy reputation, and his size can be frightening. Despite being a prisoner, his lifestyle is superior to that of many nobles and he appears to have a connection with the Kislev ruler. Rico is one of the game's strongest physical characters, but also the slowest.

Billy Lee Black
Billy Lee Black (ビリー・リー・ブラック, Birī Rī Burakku?) is introduced as a young, pacific priest of the Ethos religion, and later is revealed as a member of the Etone branch, which job is to "clean" and "purge" the world from the Reapers, or -Wels-. He has a problematic relationship with his father Jessiah (Jessie), who abandoned his family for a number of years after they moved to the surface from Solaris. Having been mentored by the Ethos leader Bishop Stone, Billy dedicated his life to religion and cares for many children including his younger sister Primera at an Ethos orphanage. Billy's sports a trio of guns in battle and also wields a number of useful support-style ether spells. He is the only character who has heal multiple party members with a single spell.

Maria Balthasar
Maria Balthasar is a young girl residing in Shevat who pilots Seibzehn, a special Gear her father, Nikolai created, to protect her home. Her father was kidnapped by Solaris to make new Gears, thus giving Maria a large grudge against Solaris. Although her Gear is powerful, Maria's physical attacks are pitifully weak, however, she can use ether attacks to call Seibzehn to attack enemies, even in enclosed areas where it wouldn't be physically possible.

Chu-Chu
Once mistaken by Bart as a stuffed animal, Chu-Chu (チュチュ, Chu-Chu?) was with Marguerite during the teenage girl's imprisonment in Fatima Castle. Her race once lived in the woods, but due to Solaris's activities, they became almost extinct. Some managed to escape to Shevat and live with Wiseman. Chu-Chu can grow to the size of a gear once the physical part of the limiter is removed. She can heal other gears, and doesn't need any fuel to fight. She has romantic interest for Fei but no one really notices and it spooks Fei at first.

Emeralda Kasim
Emeralda Kasim (エメラダ・カーリム, Emerada Kārimu?) is a nanomachine colony built to aid the human race. Kim Kasim (Fei’s second known incarnation) created Emeralda during the Zeboim era by analyzing Elly’s gene pattern, and creating a nanomachine colony. At the time, Miang was manipulating the government, and wanted to reset the human evolutionary cycle by starting a worldwide nuclear war. In the present, Emeralda is revived from an archeological site and is used by Krelian to enhance his nanomachine technology. She is used to guard a Solaris gate, but joins the party afterwards. Emeralda's nanomachine-created body makes her a powerful ally in battle, and she possesses powerful ether spells as well. She does not use any weapons, but rather, she morphs her limbs (and hair) into various melee weapons while attacking.

Marguerite "Margie"
The current Holy Mother of Nisan, the position once held by Sophia. She is Bart's first cousin, and also, his fiance of sorts, as they are both the only living members of the Fatima royal family. She has a calm, endearing nature, despite her duties. She is the only main character who is not playable, although she later makes her home on the Yggdrasil with everyone else.

Krelian
Krelian (カレルレン, Kareruren?) is the main antagonist of the game. He is the leader of Solaris, the antagonistic nation that controls the affairs of much of the world. Initially a land dweller, Krelian's scientific knowledge enabled him prolong his life and exert power over both the Solaris Emperor, Cain, and Solaris's main governing body, the Gazel Ministry. After the death of his beloved Sophia centuries ago, Krelian became convinced that God did not exist and that he would need to create God with his own hands. The name Krelian is a mistranscription of Japanese for Karellen, referencing an overmind character of Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's End.

Miang
Miang initially is a Gebler officer of Solaris, working closely with Ramsus during his mission to control Ignas and the Lambs. Her role is to control Ramsus, however it appears she does feel some affection for him. Miang has existed for the whole timeline of Xenogears, appearing as different women throughout history. She was created by Deus to watch over the humans and to eventually revive him.

Kahran Ramsus
Kahran Ramsus commands Gebler alongside Miang and holds a prominent position in the hierarchy in Solaris. He was originally created in a nanoreactor by Krelian as a clone of the Contact, but was thrown away once Fei was discovered. He grew up in the Elements, a special Solaris fighting squad, and knew Citan, who was attracted to Ramsus' ideals of no more class distinctions. Ramsus grows obsessed with defeating Fei over the course of the game because it was Fei's existence that made Ramsus feel worthless.

Gazel Ministry
The Gazel Ministry exists as the main governing body of Solaris. They were originally among the first human beings born on the planet. They were originally half of the core organic component of Deus, known as the 'Animus', and seek to realign with their respective 'Anima' (the Anima Relics).

500 years before the events of the game, the Ministry were at odds with Miang, so they provided her to Shevat in exchange for the rebel army. Soon after this however they were killed by the mysterious Diabolos forces summoned by Grahf. Krelian eventually revived 8 of the 12 ministers as computer data in the SOL-9000 after becoming part of Solaris.

Throughout the game the Ministry is fearful of Fei and seek to destroy him no matter what. This is because Fei is the reincarnation of the man (Lacan) who was responsible for their original demise. They show utter disdain towards Ramsus because of his constant failure to defeat Fei and call him 'Trash'. At the same time however they seek to resurrect their bodies using our heroes, who are descedents of them.

The Ministry eventually becomes at odds with Emperor Cain when he prevents them from using the 'Gaetia Key', a device that will resurrect God's paradise, Mahanon. Because of Miang and Krelian's manipulation of Ramsus, he assassinates Cain for them and the Ministry goes ahead and uses the key. Howevever, once using the key Krelian has no more use for them and has them promptly deleted, wiping them out permanently.

Grahf
Grahf is a cloaked individual wearing a skull mask that Fei initially encounters in the desert of Aveh. He claims responsibility for the destruction of Lahan in order to bring out Fei's powers and says that he seeks to destroy God. Frequently appearing with a Gear similar in style to Fei's Weltall, Grahf seeks to use Fei for his own purposes and shares a mysterious connection with both Krelian and Miang. It is revealed that Grahf is actually a mental clone of Lacan, one of Fei's past lives.