Mary Magdalene
From Xenosaga Wiki
Mary Magdalene was a woman who lived about 6,000 years before the events of Xenosaga.
She only appears briefly in Xenosaga Episode III, though she can be considered as having appeared before through KOS-MOS's blue-eyed mode in the previous games. She is a central figure in the series' plot.
It is revealed near the end that KOS-MOS' true purpose was to become Mary by reviving her consciousness, even though it partially failed. She also shared a close relationship with Shion Uzuki, who was described as having been her Maiden in an ancient incarnation. Additionally, she had a relationship with chaos who incarnate the contrary of her power and possibly her lover.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] The power of Animus
The power of Animus is complemented by the power of Anima possessed by Yeshua. The power of Animus is able to control the power of Anima itself, as well as controlling the Relics of God. Animus is a necessary part of the universal failsafe function and is also at the core of the Eternal Recurrence function.
Mary is the human incarnation in the real number domain of the Universe of the power of Animus existing in the imaginary number domain from the lower plan of the universe. Her existence is then similar to the one of Yeshua, Wilhelm, the Testaments, and by extension to the existence of the Gnosis. Both she and Yeshua appeared simultaneously in their current form, having never been children.
[edit] Lost Jerusalem Era
Six thousand years ago, Mary and Yeshua were disciples of the one known as the Messiah on Earth. Mary, Yeshua, the Messiah and their followers were persecuted by Wilhelm, who as Guardian of the Lower Domain saw them and their power as a threat to life in the lower domain. Since Anima is the failsafe power which must destroy the lower domain in order to protect the whole universe, and considering that the followers of the Messiah and Mary all had the ability to react with Anima (similar to the abilities the Testaments and most party members), Wilhelm feared the failsafe's activation. As a result, he persecuted the Messiah and his disciples.
Mary is also responsible for the construction of Zarathustra; she wanted to use it in order to save the universe from destruction (similarly, Yuriev will later attempt to act with for his partially selfish intentions), but she failed. Zarathustra ended up falling into Wilhelm's hands while the situation for the universe degraded.
Even though very little is known about her life, she was extremely close to the previous incarnation of Shion Uzuki, who was called the Maiden of Mary, and of chaos, at this time known as Yeshua. Shion is required to release the power of Animus, meaning both Mary and Shion need to exist for this power can be used to its full extent. Nevertheless, Shion (as the Maiden) died in front of Mary, who at that moment had lost all of her power by dividing Yeshua's Anima, rendering her helpless. This is apparently the biggest regret in Mary's life.
[edit] Death
In order to prevent the destruction of the lower domain by the power of Anima, Mary divided the power of Anima into twelve vessels. Doing this cost her her life, but not before she saw Shion's death. Mary's death caused her consciousness to be scattered across the UMN.
People who cared for Mary chose Rennes-le-Chateau to hide this vessel from their enemy, most likely Wilhelm. They also chose this place as a location to store Mary's body in a coffin full of flowers. Six thousand years later her body would still be intact.
Even though Wilhelm succeeded in stealing the Vessel of Anima later, he, for mysterious reasons, failed to take Mary's body and had to wait for Rennes-le-Chateau to appear in space to retrieve her body.
[edit] KOS-MOS Project
Wilhelm, in order to initiate the Eternal Recurrence, required the power of Animus. In order to do this, he needed two elements: the body of Mary resting at Rennes-le-Château and the Maiden of Mary's reincarnation, Shion Uzuki, who is needed for Mary to fully use her powers and to revive Mary's consciousness, as well as a body to complete Mary's revival.
Due to the body being impossible to reach, an artificial vessel is created for her consciousness: KOS-MOS. Her consciousness must progressively awake inside of her through her bond with Shion Uzuki, one of the co-creators of KOS-MOS. To intensify the bond between Shion and KOS-MOS, KOS-MOS' original creator, Kevin Winnicot, arranged to die at the hands of KOS-MOS' archetype. This left Shion the task of creating KOS-MOS' final form, as well as making KOS-MOS her only link to Kevin.
[edit] Awakenings
Throughout the games, Mary's consciousness occasionally awakens; it is most obvious when KOS-MOS' eyes turn blue, similar to Mary's eye color. During these occasions, KOS-MOS displays emotions and is more powerful than usual, but no one notices her eyes or human-like personality during those moments prior to her final awakening in Michtam's underground.
Mary's consciousness awakened many times in the series, usually in extreme situations where her power was required for the party's survival. The first occurred when the Elsa was attacked by Gnosis in Xenosaga I; KOS-MOS didn't understand what was happening to her and said "Will feeling pain make me complete?". She then used her X-Buster to absorb an entire Gnosis fleet, astonishing Shion and all those who saw it, as this ability was not in her original function. In the Animation adaption, chaos is shown as the one who allowed Mary to access her full power.
The second time was at the end of the same game, when she saved the Elsa from being incinerated. She met chaos before to turn into her blue-eyed state. He tells her to wait, but she answers "Relinquish your pain, unto me.", which chaos, surprised, recognizes immediately as being words Mary said him when she was still alive. He once more used his own power to fully awaken Mary's consciousness, protecting the Elsa from being destroyed and materializing gigantic ethereal wings on KOS-MOS.
She made only a single appearance in Xenosaga II; hearing Shion's cries for help, her power allowed KOS-MOS to activate without a battery. She used her powers combined with those of ES Dinah to destroy the fleet attacking Shion and saved her from being destroyed by Voyager in his ES. Following this, Mary's consciousness didn't awaken again until the first meeting with T-elos.
After retrieving Mary's body, Wilhelm feared that Mary's consciousness had changed inside of KOS-MOS and was no longer the original Mary; as such, he ordered the creation of a "clean" vessel using Mary's body. T-elos was created, with the purpose to destroy and absorb KOS-MOS, thus awakening as the true Mary.
T-elos confronted KOS-MOS at Rennes-le-Château and defeated her. At that moment, Shion had a vision of Mary appearing instead of T-elos, surrounded by a shining aura but with a sad expression. When T-elos tried to destroy KOS-MOS, Shion intercepted her, her pendant glowing, and awakened Mary's consciousness. This act saved KOS-MOS and transported them into Shion's subconscious. Mary's power later allowed the fourth version of KOS-MOS to start when when Voyager threatened Shion.
[edit] Resurrection
In the underground of Michtam, Shion collapsed when they arrive at a sealed door before awakening at Rennes-le-Chateau, where she saw chaos with his clothes from 6,000 years ago looking at Mary's casket. When Shion opens it to see Mary, she experiences visions of Mary and Yeshua in ancient times. First, both of she and Mary were listening to the Messiah with the other disciples. Secondly, we see Mary on her knees behind Yeshua, who was at a door; Shion felt Mary's sadness and anger. Finally, Shion sees Mary holding a dead body and crying. Shion hugs Mary and awakens in Michtam with a blue-eyed KOS-MOS.
There, T-elos appeared and revealed KOS-MOS's true identity. She tried to destroy KOS-MOS to absorb her, but failed and was absorbed by KOS-MOS instead. At this point, KOS-MOS, was not Mary, even though her blue-eyed form told Shion right before attacking T-elos that she was Mary and not Mary at the same time. Kevin later stated that KOS-MOS was a failure, considering she didn't awaken Mary's will as it was originally.
[edit] Rejection of the Recurrence
Mary/KOS-MOS rejected Wilhelm's will when she protected Allen from being killed by Kevin, claiming Wilhelm's will was irrelevant to her. Astonishing Kevin and bringing Shion to their side after she sided with Kevin. In Zarathustra's room, Mary/KOS-MOS was unable to disobey Wilhelm's order, and gave him the pendant he needed to give her for Shion to not suffer eternally. But, KOS-MOS destroyed the pendant before giving it to him, rejecting the Eternal Reccurence and stated that her name is not Mary, but KOS-MOS, her eyes becoming Red. At this point it's unknown if both Mary and KOS-MOS exist in the same body as two separate entities and KOS-MOS took over her body, if Mary gave her power over the body, or if KOS-MOS is Mary having renamed herself KOS-MOS having changed her personality and possibly having merged with KOS-MOS's OS.
Mary's will unified Anima and gave it back to chaos, then gave Animus power to Nephilim. KOS-MOS sacrificed herself in order to protect chaos and Nephilim while they worked. Her body was last seen drifting near Lost Jerusalem during the ending, as chaos told her to "Sleep well."
[edit] Appearance
Mary looks like an 18-21-year-old young woman who looks like both KOS-MOS and T-elos, though arguably her facial features are more similar to KOS-MOS'. Like T-elos, her skin is brown but her hair is also brown, an inversion of T-elos' white. Her eyes are blue, which is her trademark when her consciousness awakes in KOS-MOS.
Mary always wears a clear blue gown, and is the only character from the scene of the old Lost Jerusalem to not wear the same things as Yeshua. Even though they come from the same place, her skin is slightly darker than his.
[edit] Relationship
[edit] Shion Uzuki
Shion is the Maiden of Mary. Nephilim states that her existence is vital to her during Xenosaga I, and later speaks of how close they were, laughing and crying together. They were always together in Lost Jerusalem, and both of them are necessary to fully use the Animus, Shion being an Animus-resonant consciousness. Unfortunately, Shion died in front of Mary, who was unable to save her. Mary still regrets this event even after her revival in KOS-MOS.
Shion was also necessary for Mary's consciousness to awaken inside of KOS-MOS; as such, Wilhelm orchestrated the events leading up to Shion becoming the one in charge of the KOS-MOS Project to create a special link between herself and KOS-MOS. KOS-MOS always protected Shion during the game, it was the only thing that no order given to her could change, at first this was due to orders from Kevin, but eventually also due to Mary's consciousness.
[edit] Yeshua
Yeshua, the wielder of Anima, now known as chaos, was described as being close to Mary. There are many speculations on the nature of their relationship, the most common being that of lovers, though some theorize that they had a sibling-like relationship. Nephilim says that Mary is vital not only to Shion, but to chaos as well when they dive in KOS-MOS' encephalon. Wilhelm, trying to get Mary's support after KOS-MOS destroyed the pendant, says that in refusing the recurrence even Yeshua will die and asks if she really wants that.
They both followed the man known as the Messiah in the ancient past, thinking his ideas were the best for humanity. Which was dangerous since it quickly activated Anima due to the Apostle. After failing with Zarathustra Mary divided Yeshua's power when they almost activated and destroyed the lower domain. As a result, she lost her powers and died shortly after having done this.
Yeshua immediately sees Mary in KOS-MOS the first time they met, while KOS-MOS notices he is not a human being. In the animation it is hinted he is the one allowing KOS-MOS to use her full power, Mary's Animus, to destroy the Gnosis. Right before she saves the Elsa from being burnt, she says to him in passing "Relinquish your pain, unto me", something that chaos recognizes as being Mary Magdalene's word.
[edit] Wilhelm
He is the one who persecuted her and her friends Lost Jerusalem. Even though they were enemies their purpose ultimately is the same and they don't seem to have hatred for each other. Wilhelm was convinced Mary would start Eternal Recurrence, likely based on her desire to protect the universe and the Recurrence being the only apparent way. But KOS-MOS stepped in and stopped the Recurrence from starting.
[edit] Personality
Little is known, but from what we can see, her personality is caring, kind, and gentle. She wants to protect those she loves and the universe above all else. It is possibly why Wilhelm is convinced Mary will start the Eternal Recurrence, because he would think it's the only way to save the universe. Not doing so would lead to Shion and Yeshua's death.
[edit] Trivia
- The music heard during Mary's past is Hepatica #2 and is Hepatica (KOS-MOS) when T-elos is ultimately fought.
- The flowers surrounding Mary when Shion sees her crying are "cosmos", the same flower having served to name KOS-MOS.
- Due to T-elos's hair color being an inversion of Mary's, T-elos can be interpreted symbolically as an Anti-Mary.
