SPOILER WARNING

I was going to do this much earlier today, but I just happened to what I beleive evidence that backs up the statement that Xenoblade 2 is coming this year for sure and posted that instead. Anyway, I wanted to get to this before GameXplain or some other SherlockTuber goes and fleshes out all the theories. 

That being said, this will involve spoilers to Xenoblade and to a lesser extent Xenoblade X . So beyond this point is the point of spoilers. 

To ensure no on gets accidentally spoiled, I am just putting this video up as a buffer

NOTE

The images are kind of small mainly because I didn't want to take too much space up, but they are just like the pic right side of my sig: just open to  a bigger picture in a new tab.

 There are a couple interesting things about this character. The thing I circled is the core reason I thought about doing this. This shape reminds of the LifeHolds found in Xenoblade Chronicles X. But her color scheme reminds me of Ether as well. From the moment I saw this, and I'm sure many of you will too this heavily reminded me of characters in Xenoblade who operated major Mechon. However just not with the Ether design. It makes me wonder what exactly is going on in this one

Same thing about this character. We can see that her suit shares many features with the other girl, who for the purposes of this, I will now call Ferla and I will call this girl Rexah. Cringe to your hearts content.

But anyway, we can see in this picture that there are these 2 crosses on Rexah's chest circled in red. Initially I didn't bother too much about it because it looked kinda like a symbol used by an anime studio I like. I don't think there is any correlation there whatsoever, but if we look back at Ferla chest area we see the same thing. The earings kinda resemble it as well, and though its somewhat hidden, Ferla is also wearing the earings. They also both contain the same head piece. 

Now here is where we see some distinction with Rexah. I circled the the feathers because it reminds me of the High Entia. Could she be related to Melia in some way? Is that why both she and Ferla are flowing with what now I beleive to be Ether, because they are naturally able to control it?

Again for the purposes, I will call the Whelsh and the sword the Stereonado

Looking at this picture a beautiful shot that largely resembles the original Xenoblade. When I saw this I had this weird feeling I about telethias. I assumed it was maybe the creature I was thinking of, but no it was the Stereonado;

Look at that glow on the sgemented parts; it reminds me of the Telethia's wings. The High Entia both commanded and became Telethia. The more I think about it the more I wonder what this could really mean. The Stereonado looks like Ferla's suit. The scene above kind of depicts him in the same scene as her in a fiery location. I think at this point he's attempting to protect her and she resolves to be captured. It could mean anything.

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I want to talk about dialogue and the character's conditions a little more before finishing up. In the case of Ferla and Rexah, they seem to be manipulated, almost like tools. I say this due to the way the dialouge was presented. Ferla's line and state seem to be of one where she is about to act to protect her friend(s); Rexah feels like she was running or hiding and is finidng courage not to.

Whelsh talks about Elysium. Now that reminds of the tree we see at the end of the trailer. It could be that Monolith Soft has lost their damn minds watching A Cruel Angel's Thesis over and over and over again. I did. But jokes aside this is simply something I haven't looked at yet in as much depth. I got things to do tommorow and I rather discuss theories now and continue later than wait until doing it before or sometime after FE's direct tommrow.

Nonetheless sorry for the patch work.

Anyways what are your thoughts and theories?

I'll be tagging this but won't read it now due to Xenoblade and Xenoblade X spoiler D:

Haha. Sorry about that. I really wanted to make it spoiler free, but;s kind of hard. I'll try again. or maybe make  a spoiler free version later

The lifeholds themselves are shaped after the Zohar from Xenogears/Xenosaga.

In Xeno games the Zohar acts as the bridge to a "higher-dimension." Powerful beings which are interepreted to be gods can come through it. In Xenogears the Zohar was used to capture the wave-existence and power Deus. In Xenosaga, the Zohar acted as a portal.

The previous Xeno-games have been allegories of the Gnostic creation mythos, but it seems as if this game is an allegory for the Nordic mythos of the world tree -Yggdrasil, and the serpent Nidhogg. 

^ Nidhogg concept art

^ Yggdrasil and Nidhogg in-engine. 

I personally am of the belief that they are going to eventually connect Xenoblade Chronicles X and Xenoblade Chronicles somehow. The Xenoblade --> Xenoblade Chronicles X --> Xenoblade 2 sequence, and Xenoblade Chronicles X's intentionally mysterious storyline, just seems off to me. Possibly the events of Xenoblade Chronicles set up the setting for the creation of multiple universes, and Yggdrasil and Mira are sort of hubs between them. It would explain why there are Nopons and mention of Homs in Xenoblade Chronicles X. It could (if detailed) explain the mystery behind Mira, and it could also explain how exactly this game, and Xenoblade Chronicles connect.

Before Xenoblade Chronicles X released, there was a lot of talk about how Xenoblade Chronicles X was the largest story Takahashi ever wrote, and that it was almost like a book. Considering how sparse the story that we recieved was, and how detailed Xenogears and Xenosaga were, I am starting to become a little bit of a conspiratist about this. There is some grand unification of Xenoblade happening here.

Also to go with the Norse mythology setting. In Norse mythology there are stags that chomp at the branches of Yggdrasil, while Nidhogg eats at the roots. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A1inn,_Dvalinn,_Duneyrr_and_Dura%C3%BEr%C3%B3r

Coinicidence?

I knew that it looked like a Zohar from the previous Xeno series (I thought I wrote it down), but I had no it worked like that because I didn't play the other series. That's amazing. I also think the unification is bound to happen. I thought I had an idea, but Monolith may not be focusing on that with this game I feel.

Where did you get the concept art btw? I feel like I saw it somewhere but I didn't really know where. Is there more? 

I knew that tree and them saying Elysium were familiar. I'm not too big on Nordic stuff, but at least recognized that. I'm trying to figure out what trials they will go through here, but that certainly gives a stronger rubric for the themes here

Here's the link for the concept art.

http://nintendowire.com/blog/2017/01/16/monolift-soft-shares-xenoblade-chronicles-2-concept-art/

Appreciated!