I love this game, having just today finished it. The ending is one of the few ones where I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried, due to all the death and destruction - and how utterly pointless it all was, since Malos wasn't actually killed. Milton, Hugo, Mikhail's innocence, Mythra's sanity and sense of self-worth...all gone.
Before I finally decided to complete Torna: The Golden Country, when I had only finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (three or four times), I had thought that Pyra was just a 'mask' Mythra wore to take the edge off the destruction of the fabled Aegis War; a 'mask', or multiple-personality disorder. A different 'self' in order to cope with trauma, as the Addam hologram talked about.
I thought this since Pyra is everything Mythra's not; she's more social, kinder, actually good at cooking, and softer, along with being a weaker fighter. Pyra is quite noticeably not as serious or blunt as Mythra, and she actively dislikes fighting, whereas I got the sense Mythra was more accepting of it (she still didn't like it, but not as much of a dislike as Pyra's).
After finishing Torna, seeing just what that trauma was that caused the birth of Pyra...I can now see that my theory might well be accurate. Mythra, now Pyra, would indeed have some intense post-traumatic stress disorder; she also never had the time to cope with it, since it seemed like her hibernation, her sealing, took place just a handful of days after Pyra's birth.
Seeing Mythra's empty eyes after Malos attacked Auresco, that theory of PTSD just seemed to fit; Malos had indeed broken her spirit then, and all that was driving her on was the need to defeat him. The countless meteors of light she emitted, the ones that finally felled Malos and permanently destroyed his Siren (he has to hijack Mythra's in XC2), seemed like an emotional outburst of misery due to his taunting.
Pyra would indeed be a good hiding place for Mythra, I now feel; the 'mask', the alternate self, she can hide behind to cope with the last few days before her five hundred-year-long slumber.
That trauma, of losing dear friends, and being prevented from cradling poor Milton's head by a broken, empty-eyed Mikhail, would not have gone away upon Rex's awakening of her; no wonder why she wanted to ask the Architect to kill her off.
Not to mention hearing how 500-odd years have passed, that Addam's no longer around, that her former friend Jin is now her enemy - working alongside Malos at that, that dear Haze is now the Blade of the most duplicitous and evil person around, that she's now the feared Aegis, that poor Mikhail is now also her enemy...her wish just makes so much sense now. She never got to visit a psychiatrist - not that she ever had the time, but still - to properly deal with all this stress, all this self-loathing, all this betrayal.
I now appreciate Xenoblade Chronicles 2 all the more. It has truly become my absolute favourite game of all time, due to just how deep and emotional it is, alongside the brilliant gameplay of both the main game and T:TGC.
I just felt the need to write this down somewhere permanent, is all; I'm done.
Before I finally decided to complete Torna: The Golden Country, when I had only finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (three or four times), I had thought that Pyra was just a 'mask' Mythra wore to take the edge off the destruction of the fabled Aegis War; a 'mask', or multiple-personality disorder. A different 'self' in order to cope with trauma, as the Addam hologram talked about.
I thought this since Pyra is everything Mythra's not; she's more social, kinder, actually good at cooking, and softer, along with being a weaker fighter. Pyra is quite noticeably not as serious or blunt as Mythra, and she actively dislikes fighting, whereas I got the sense Mythra was more accepting of it (she still didn't like it, but not as much of a dislike as Pyra's).
After finishing Torna, seeing just what that trauma was that caused the birth of Pyra...I can now see that my theory might well be accurate. Mythra, now Pyra, would indeed have some intense post-traumatic stress disorder; she also never had the time to cope with it, since it seemed like her hibernation, her sealing, took place just a handful of days after Pyra's birth.
Seeing Mythra's empty eyes after Malos attacked Auresco, that theory of PTSD just seemed to fit; Malos had indeed broken her spirit then, and all that was driving her on was the need to defeat him. The countless meteors of light she emitted, the ones that finally felled Malos and permanently destroyed his Siren (he has to hijack Mythra's in XC2), seemed like an emotional outburst of misery due to his taunting.
Pyra would indeed be a good hiding place for Mythra, I now feel; the 'mask', the alternate self, she can hide behind to cope with the last few days before her five hundred-year-long slumber.
That trauma, of losing dear friends, and being prevented from cradling poor Milton's head by a broken, empty-eyed Mikhail, would not have gone away upon Rex's awakening of her; no wonder why she wanted to ask the Architect to kill her off.
Not to mention hearing how 500-odd years have passed, that Addam's no longer around, that her former friend Jin is now her enemy - working alongside Malos at that, that dear Haze is now the Blade of the most duplicitous and evil person around, that she's now the feared Aegis, that poor Mikhail is now also her enemy...her wish just makes so much sense now. She never got to visit a psychiatrist - not that she ever had the time, but still - to properly deal with all this stress, all this self-loathing, all this betrayal.
I now appreciate Xenoblade Chronicles 2 all the more. It has truly become my absolute favourite game of all time, due to just how deep and emotional it is, alongside the brilliant gameplay of both the main game and T:TGC.
I just felt the need to write this down somewhere permanent, is all; I'm done.
