The perennial complaint:
Bawww I want more Xenosaga. If they can't make another game, I'll be satisfied (marginally) with a spinoff manga or something. Come on you guys. I NEED THIS.

So anyway.



Hermmmm so. Let's start off with what I'm sure of: Wilhelm is the Ubermensch. You know, the figure not bound by traditional morality (BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL HYUK HYUK) who determines the values of the masses. He's determinedly NOT spiritual - as president of Vector industries, he's in a position of material wealth, placed in contrast with the what-religion-are-they-practicing U-TIC organization. He's also placed in direct contrast with chaos (the Gnostic power behind Jesus) and KOS-MOS (Mary Magdalene), figures relating to Christianity and spirituality.

He's even trying to bring about the eternal return, the LITERAL eternal return, the universe looping in on itself as a way to continue its existence. The subtitle of the third game - "Thus Spake Zarathustra" - besides being completely pretentious, is a reference to Wilhelm's final desire to, like Zarathustra did, bring about eternal return.

...so is Xenosaga trying to debunk the Ubermensch, or what? Because, you know, after three games of getting manipulated and blown around by Wilhelm, Shion and co. (or rather KOS-MOS) basically bring all of his plans to naught.

I mean, in the end KOS-MOS rebelled against her master (Kevin, Wilhelm, Shion, whoever) and decided to act for what she believed to be Shion's welfare.

So let's talk about Nietzsche and women. Some think him to be a raging misogynist while others think exactly the opposite - hey, this is Nietzche, you can find a quote of his to say something and another quote later on that seemingly contradicts it. Taken at literal face, he describes women as basically the sirens that call men away from fulfilling their true potential as Ubermenschen - and that's exactly what KOS-MOS does, she fucks shit up for Wilhelm.

And if we want the epitome of man-who-would-be-Ubermensch-but-fails, it's Kevin. He's up there with Wilhelm pulling the strings for pretty much the entire game, but he basically just keeps fucking up because of his obsession with Shion. Making a special looping universe just for the two of them? Mmm-hmm. Kevin's the one most involved with the major women of the series - Shion, KOS-MOS, T-elos - and in the end his involvement with them leads to failure.

But then you can take >9000 other interpretations of what Nietzsche said about women - you can say he's revealing with his words the construct men have of women, you can say that he's talking about the Christian (ohhh Nietzsche hated dem Christians) ideal of women and not of women themselves. There's lots of interpretations on this.

I would say that the culmination of Xenosaga III - and really, the entire series - is basically TPTB's interpretation of Nietzsche's views on women. KOS-MOS as she is at the end of X3 is the feminine counterpart to the Ubermensch, the ideal that topples Wilhelm's control. I mean, right from square one an emphasis is put on the fact that KOS-MOS is female, that Kevin wanted her to be female because - and I really can't remember this quote precisely, but it's something like he wanted her to be a protector rather that just a destroyer.

Of course this says something about Kevin's idealization of women... but prototype KOS-MOS stabbing him in the gut is the first sign of her rejection of his ideals, and the sign that she'll ultimately choose a role as something of both.

KOS-MOS's various models in the three games are signs of her evolution towards the anti-Ubermensch, the final piece of which is absorbing T-elos, her counterpart and opposite. I'm fairly sure T-elos symbolizes something but I'm not sure what.

Anyway, these are my KOS-MOS-related thoughts, let me show you them. I'm not really sure exactly how to characterize the kind of anti-Ubermensch she's supposed to be... I hesitate to say feminine ideal, because the point is that she breaks down the old feminine ideal and constructs her own (blah blah blah Nietzsche breaking down old morality constructing own values), but that's really what she is. Now if only I could figure out what that ideal is supposed to be.

KOS-MOS' character confuses me. This is why I can't fic her - my reaction is: What?

But moving on: There's something to be said about Xenosaga and master-slave morality. Okay, basically master-slave morality boils down to: everyone is either a master or a slave, masters determine their own morality and slaves' morality is based as the antithesis of that of their masters. Nietzsche defines Christian morality as being slave morality, for example, because it devalues the physical and the material, things that those in power value and have a lot of ($$$).

The Gnosis are the embodiment of slave morality - they fear and reject others and basically exist to counter everything that humans construct. They're non-physical where humans are physical and determine that which humans consider good to be their own idea of evil. More specifically, the Gnosis are rejecting Wilhelm (who is most definitely a Master with a capital M) and the morality he creates with his ever-looping universe plan.

I also think there's something to be said for the Shining Will types (blah diddy blah Gnosticism) and the master morality - part of master-slave morality is the idea that the slave does not want to transcend the master, it wants the master to become a slave also - the slave convinces the master that what the master values as 'good' is in fact 'evil', and this is what the Gnosis do as part of the Gnosification schtick - they induce a fear that drives people to reject humanity as they do. Those with Shining Wills are true masters, those who cannot be turned into slaves.

I was gonna go onto a tangent on Shion's Gnosis-summoning thing as a child and master-slave morality and result vs. intention but I'm really not sure where I'm going with that. So.

Anyway, I guess as a final shot: when it comes to overanalyzing Xenosaga, the one thing that keeps kicking me in the pants is that the games have heavy influences from both Gnosticism and Nietzschean philosophy, but both of those are completely at odds with each other. Gnosticism emphasizes that the real world is an illusion and that we must transcend that to find 'truth', while Nietzsche is all about the physical and emphasizing that the physical IS truth and that there is no facade.

At least both of them agree on the God is dead thing - and while we're at it, U-DO is the Xenosaga God - Gnosticism says that the Christian God is an egomaniac false god (Albedo's relationship with U-DO is pretty much the kicker on this) that we, as individual higher beings need to transcend in order to see our own potential - Nietzsche's famous line God is dead basically says that the idea of God is no longer necessary to one who creates their own values to replace that of God.


...there has to be more rants on the internet about this, seriously, Where Is The Meta.