The Xenosaga’s Many Allusions

Xenosaga and it’s related games, the trilogy for the Playstation 2 and the original Xenogears, are filled with religious, science fictions, and other allusions. Some are subtle, but others are very obvious, it just depends on the extent of the knowledge of the player. The following are some of the most stunning, and important, and also funny allusions that the Xeno series makes

If you notice the two woman who are Jr.’s second in command aboard the Durandal are named Mary and Shelly, put them together and you have Mary Shelly the famed author of Frankenstein. Also the last names of the two girls are Godwin, which was Mary Shelly’s original Last name! Both Mary and Shelly in Xenosaga have been victims of a process in which they are now declared mutants due to their psychic abilities, leading some to call them “freaks” just like the Frankenstein’s Monster.

The U.R.T.V’s that were sent to destroy U-DO were named Albedo, Rubedo (a.k.a. Jr. or Little Master), and Nigredo (a.k.a. Gaignun Kukai,) all three of their names refer to colors used in Alchemy. Nigredo means Black, Rubedo is re, and Albedo is White, which also happens to be the colors of each characters hair.

The character chaos is also referred to by Wilhelm as “Yeshua” wich is believed to be the Aramaic name of Jesus of Nazareth. chaos also seems to be the only person who can understand Wilhelm, and vise versa, each completing one another, chaos has dark skin and blue eyes while in contrast Wilhelm has plae skin and red eyes.

All three games Xenosaga I, II, and III display subtitles under their official title, Xenosaga Episode I (Der Wille zur Macht) which translates to “The Will to Power”. The Second Game Xenosage Episode II (Jenseits von Gut und Bose) translates to “Beyond Good and Evil) and the third game Xenosaga Episode III (Also Sprach Zarathustra) translates to “Thus Spoke Zarathustra. All three games carries these subtitles that were also written by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, recognize the middle name of Wilhelm?

The Zohar is a key element in all the Xeno games (including Xenogears) and can be compared to the Monolith from the famed science fiction movie Space Odyssey 2001 in which a rectangular object is discovered and changes the course of mankind’s history, and has been around since the dawn of time. In Xenosaga a Monolith like structure, the Zohar is discovered. This object has tremendous power within, and eventually changes the course of human history. The Zohar in the Xenosage games has the Hebrew word for “beginning written on it, and Zohar itself means “Creator”, or “creation

The main enemy in the Xenosaga series are the Gnosis, possibly a reference to the Gnostic Gospels. In the Gnostic religion, there are two gods, one of which is like the traditional God, and another more sinister God who in the Xenosaga series may be portrayed by Wilhelm. Wilhelm is an being who has been around for many thousands of years, he founded the Vector Program which was responsible for the discovery of the Zohar in the year 2060, and yet during the course of the Xenosaga Wilhelm never ages, always appearing to be in his early 20’s. It is also hinted that Wilhelm may have even been around during the time of Jesus, founding the “Ormus” organization around that time. This could be an allusion that Wilhelm is the lesser god of the Gnostic religion.

A strange coincidence has occurred with the series of Xenosaga games, or possibly it was planned, but in any event the Xeno series was supposed to take place over a six game saga, however this was cut short due to lower then expected sales of Xenosaga II and people leaving the Monolith (the company that produced the Xeno series) staff. The series was cut short to only 3 games and the lesser known Xenogears that was produced by Square Soft in 1998. on the same not, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche series of books that inspired the Xenosaga, including his most famous “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” was originally intended to be a series of six books written over many years, however he shortened his series to three books, and later wrote a fourth that was lesser known until the end of the 19th century.

Xenosaga is full of very deep references and to many different religions, fiction works, and science fiction works, along with many philosophical ideas. In a way the Xenosaga is like a modern day version of many of the philosophical books and poems written to challenge all that mankind has known and expected. A game like this can only be described as amazing and intelligent beyond expectations. No matter how well you think you know the game, or how many times you play you’ll always be thinking of a new way to interpret or perceive the simplest of facts in the Xenosaga.