| “ | We aren't normal children, you know. Even if we lost control of our waveform and died, we wouldn't have the luxury of complaining about it.
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” |
Citrine (シトリン, Shitorin) is the younger sister of Jr. and Albedo, and the older sister of Gaignun. She is first introduced in Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse as a child at the Yuriev Institute.
Citrine is shown to be loyal to her father, Dmitri Yuriev, and his supporters in the Salvator Faction.
Personality[]
As a child, Citrine talks with an elitist air of superiority to the other U.R.T.V.s, including Jr., Albedo and Gaignun. As the male and female U.R.T.V.s were raised in separate facilities, and the already rare female-types tended to die, it's likely that Citrine's detached demeanor is the result of seeing the children around her "disposed of" by the Institute staff. Like Jr., she was placed into a high-pressure leadership role, and attempts to act more maturely and hide her emotional state to live up to those expectations.
As an adult, Citrine remains loyal to Yuriev's orders, has kept her air of superiority, and has apparently adopted a sadistic side when it comes to battle. She seems to be sure of what to do, claiming what she does is to fulfill her reason to exist, but the moment of her death she reveals that, in truth, she was unsure of her own purpose in life, and seems to express remorse and confusion. As Citrine is the only one of Yuriev's children who never escaped from the influence of him or his supporters, and likely did not have any opportunities to pursue anything else outside of the Institute's goals, she could be interpreted as a victim of his ambitions.
Background[]
Birth[]
Citrine is U.R.T.V. unit #668, the missing U.R.T.V. unseen in Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht who falls between U.R.T.V.s #667 Albedo and #669 Gaignun in the numerical sequence. She is one of the few female-type U.R.T.V.s, who were produced solely for maintaining the viability of the U.R.T.V. cell culture, which degenerates after each successive round of cloning.
Citrine's birth came after Albedo's, but before Gaignun's. She was created to be a U.R.T.V. variant, the head of the female U.R.T.V. unit. Female U.R.T.V.s are produced by inducing a mutation in the Y chromosome of a developing clone and changing it into a second X chromosome, thus turning a male U.R.T.V. into a female. Citrine is an X-type, designed to preserve the egg's mtDNA.
Because of a genetic instability brought about by the Y to X change, female U.R.T.V.s often suffer forms of congenital defects and die very quickly as their bodies fail them. Citrine, however, shows no sign of being affected by this instability, and is one of only nine remaining female U.R.T.V.s.
Yuriev Institute[]
Female Supremacy
Citrine meets the other U.R.T.V. variants.
Citrine wasn't allowed to remain with male U.R.T.V.s, and was kept with the other female U.R.T.V.s in a separate ward. Citrine was the leader of the female types. The three male variants met her for the first time during one of the intervals in the mission to save Sakura Mizrahi's subconscious domain. This surprises them; Albedo had heard of a girl's ward without knowing if it actually existed. Gaignun had thought the "missing" number, U.R.T.V. 668, was dead. At this time, she presents herself with a very arrogant attitude and claims that the female U.R.T.V.s are theoretically superior to the male units. Jr. looked irritated at her when she claimed the other females had been disposed of due to an instability and angrily asks, "Who do you think you are?" to which she replies, "And just who do you think you are, Rudedo?"
Xenosaga Episode II HD Cutscene 60 - Father and Son - ENGLISH
Citrine speaks to Gaignun about his role.
Later on, Citrine has a discussion with Gaignun in which she asks him to question why he doesn't react to the U-DO simulator. She reminds him of their duty to "manage and subdue the Red Dragon's violent nature" and continues to prompt him to consider the implications until he realizes the true goal hidden by the code names.
This conversation prompts Gaignun to shoot and kill Yuriev, as he refuses to continue a mission where he'd have to kill Jr. Whether Citrine was aiming for any particular outcome as a result of sharing this information with Gaignun is left unspecified. Similarly, it is unknown if she realized Yuriev intended to use Gaignun as a host body.
Miltian Conflict and aftermath[]
Citrine is not shown anywhere during the Miltian Conflict, though there was originally a scene showing how she survived before it was deleted from the final release of the game.[citation needed] In Episode III, Citrine claims that Jr. abandoned them, referring to the U.R.T.V.s collectively, but there is not enough information to determine whether she was present that day on Miltia, fourteen years before the events of Xenosaga.
After the Conflict, her situation is unknown, though it is likely she was kept and raised by Yuriev's coworkers from the Institute, the Salvator Faction until his return, as hinted by her wearing the Institutes's outfit at the moment of Yuriev's return.
Xenosaga I & II[]
While she doesn't appear outside of the flashback in Episode II, Citrine returns in her adult form in the Episode II part of Xenosaga I & II. In this, she wears the Institute's outfit at this moment and is one of the first people to become aware of Yuriev's return after he possesses Gaignun's body. She then seems to take on the role of a special agent or bodyguard for him, carrying out his dirty work and protecting him when necessary. She also speaks with Pierre Ruryk.
Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse[]
Citrine appears in flashbacks during the Encephalon dive at the U.M.N. Control Center.
Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra[]
In Episode III, Citrine appears for the first time as an adult, the same age as Jr. and Gaignun. She acts as Yuriev's bodyguard as well as special agent. She receives orders from him, but stays in the shadow.
Xenosaga III HD Cutscene 243 - Canaan vs. Citrine (Durandal) - ENGLISH
Citrine attacks Canaan on the Durandal.
Citrine makes herself known during the Durandal takeover where she helps him take over the bridge where she easily defeats Canaan. When Yuriev goes to take control of the Zohar Emulators, she stays at the last door just before the chamber to stand guard and prevent anyone from ruining his plans.
When Jr. and the team go to the bridge to stop Yuriev, they encounter her. At this point, she reveals that she is not following Yuriev's orders for his plan in itself, but in order to destroy U-DO; the reason that she was born, even if it threatens the existence of the universe.
Xenosaga Episode III - Citrine
Citrine boss battle.
Citrine then resorts to violence. Forced to fight her, Jr. and the others battle her. She has a tendency to use a spell which will reduce everyone's HP to 666 called "Seal of 666". If this occurs, it is imperative that the player heals immediately, or swap another character in battle or it she will soon insta-kill the entire team. She will then use a skill called "Red Dragon Killer" which hits everyone for 666. She is also weak to Beam damage.
After defeat, she then questions Jr., "Why were we born? For what reason do we exist? Answer me, Rubedo. You betrayed your comrades, you killed your brother. Why are you still alive?" to which Jr. replies, "To keep my promise," referring to his promise to Sakura. After this, she simply states that she pities him for still being haunted by "that woman's" (possibly referring to Juli) "shadow" (possibly referring to Sakura), then collapses and dies.
Relationships[]
Jr.[]
At the Yuriev Institute, Citrine was considered the leader of the female U.R.T.V.s, and their personalities were similar enough that an NPC, Liliya, remarks that Citrine "never sits still, just like that No. 666." If Jr. is the active character, the dialogue changes, and Liliya imagines Citrine was nearby.
As children, Jr. is upset by how callously Citrine speaks of the deceased U.R.T.V.s, and Citrine in turn is unimpressed by this sentimentality, countering that they aren't normal children and don't have the luxury of complaining, even if they die.
When they meet again as adults, Jr. is shocked that she's alive and tries to reason with her, saying that he doesn't want to lose any more of his comrades. Citrine accuses Jr. of abandoning his duty, calls him a failure who's forgotten his role as a weapon, and says he has no right to speak to her. She reminds him she has the power to destroy him, and a boss fight ensues.
Gaignun[]
At the Yuriev Institute, Citrine and Gaignun were assigned similar missions due to their identical physical capabilities. Both of them have the ability to function as a failsafe in the event that Jr.'s Red Dragon mode went out of control. They differ only in that Yuriev did not plan to use her as a host body for himself. It is never revealed if she knew Yuriev intended to possess him, and does not share her thoughts on the situation.
After her death, Yuriev ridicules Gaignun for feeling "sad" because he "had a connection to that unit", and dismisses any emotions among the U.R.T.V.s as "nothing more than an illusion". While the "connection" is left unspecified, it seems likely that, similarly to Jr., Gaignun would not want to fight her or see her come to harm.
Dmitri Yuriev[]
Yuriev is her father, although he considers her a mere unit, as he does for all of the U.R.T.V.s. She was indoctrinated by Yuriev and the Institute's staff to follow his orders, and regards her duty to destroy U-DO as more important than the continued existence of the universe, should it come to that.
Etymology and inspirations[]
Citrine refers to citrinitas. During her boss fight, she uses a skill called "Citrinitas’s Wave".
In the Jungian archetypal schema, citrinitas is the wise old man (or woman) archetype.
chaos makes an allusion in Episode II insinuating that the four variant U.R.T.V.s are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Xenosaga universe. As the fourth U.R.T.V. variant, by process of elimination, it's plausible that Citrine is the pale rider, Death, even though the horse of Death is pale green and not orange. The three other variants' mythical horses have the same color as their names, which leaves Citrine for this symbolic role.
Quotes[]
- "Pleased to meet you, number 666 Rubedo. I am U.R.T.V. number 668. You may call me Citrine."
- "Don't be so surprised. The original fertilized eggs had both X and Y stock. I am an X-type, designed to preserve the egg's mtDNA. We'd be in trouble if the project hit a dead end with nothing but just you simple Y-types.
- "Unlike you male types, we have only nine female types remaining. It's a shame because, theoretically, we are superior."
- "We aren't normal children, you know. Even if we lost control of our waveform and died, we wouldn't have the luxury of complaining about it."
- "Codename: Red Dragon. A useful yet dangerous creature with the potential to lose control... That's right. Red Dragon. Red... and precious."
- "I'm so happy to see you. You're the only comrade I have left."
- "A failure who's forgotten his role as a weapon and abandoned his duty has no right to speak to me!"
- "I forgot to mention, but I have one more duty. I have the power to destroy the Red Dragon, just like Nigredo. Do you think you can defeat me?"
- "Take this!"
- "Learn some manners!"
- "Oh, you want me to step on you, too?"
- "I think you need some stiff punishment!"
- "Do you want more?"
- "Is that the extent of your power, Rubedo?"
- "Behold the hellfire of the abyss!"
- "I refuse... I refuse to accept this!"
- "No... Father!" (defeated)
- "Why were we born? For what reason do we exist? Answer me, Rubedo. You betrayed your comrades, you killed your brother. Why are you still alive? ...To keep your promise? You're still haunted by that woman's shadow. I pity you." (to Jr., before her death)
Trivia[]
Close-up of Citrine.
- Her eye color is quite unique - the top part is light brownish or amber, while the bottom part is a teal turquoise.
- Writings released by former Xenosaga writer Soraya Saga revealed that in the original version of Episode II, before her script was modified by Monolith Soft's new team of editors, an adult Citrine makes a brief appearance in the game's present-day timeframe where she reunites with her fellow U.R.T.V.s, Gaignun and a now physically mature Jr.
- As a U.R.T.V. variant, it is plausible she has a Shining Will along her brothers, the heroes, Testaments and other significant characters.
- After Citrine is defeated aboard the Durandal, she drops a key to the Weapons Development Area of the CAT Facility on Fifth Jerusalem, where the fight between KOS-MOS and Ω Res Novae was held. Revisiting the facility through the EVS, a player can enter the sealed-off section and fight both Ω Universitas and Ω Id.
Gallery[]
