Wilhelm (Xenosaga)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wilhelm

A character/reference from the Xenosaga series.

Wilhelm (ヴィルヘルム, Wiruherumu^?) is the mysterious founder and CEO of the largest interplanetary conglomerate, Vector Industries. He also served as the Executive Committee Director of the Galaxy Federation, up to a decade ago.

[edit] Basic information

Born: ??
Age: Unknown; appears 16-20
Sex: Male
Height: 170 cm (5' 7")
Weight: 54 kg (119 lbs)
Voice Actor (Japanese): Nobuyuki Hiyama
Voice Actor (English, Episode I): Richard Cansino
Voice Actor (English, Episode II, III): Jason Spisak

[edit] Background

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

As the founder of Vector Industries, Wilhelm must be very old, much older than any normal human could possibly live. This is because Vector funded the Masuda expedition (featured at the very beginning of Episode I) that uncovered the Zohar over 4000 years ago from present time. He also has an active role in the events of Pied Piper, 100 years ago from present time. It is speculated that Wilhelm is not human. He is one of the most suspicious and enigmatic characters in the Xenosaga series; it seems he is manipulating every other conglomerate and individual towards some mysterious goal. Wilhelm has an affinity for referring to life's situations as if they were all a part of some universal theatrical play. He is also an avid fan of chess, adding fuel to the dramatic approach of his manipulations.

According to the Original Design Materials, Wilhelm "knows everything."

Wilhelm uses an artifact called the Compass of Order and Chaos. He is often seen staring into it, and it is quite possible that Wilhelm is using the Compass of Order and Chaos as a vision into the future. With such knowledge, Wilhelm could easily manipulate circumstances in the present to aid him in the future.

Wilhelm's assistants are the Testaments: Voyager (a.k.a. Erich Weber), Kevin Winnicott, Luis Virgil and Albedo Piazzolla. The extent and nature of the Testaments' power is unknown, but they seem to be Wilhelm's closest personal advisors and subordinates. By the end of the second game Wilhelm's complete "Vanguard Force" of four Testaments is assembled. Each dressed in different-colored robes: black, red, blue, and white. All of the Testaments have previously been killed in some way or another, and they were somehow resurrected by the intervention of Wilhelm and became Testaments. In Xenosaga:Pied Piper, chaos interfered with Wilhelm's plans by saving Jan Sauer, preventing him from becoming a Testament. Perhaps due to his very nature, chaos is the one thing that Wilhelm can not reliably predict.

At the end of Xenosaga Episode II, there is a brief scene involving chaos and Wilhelm. chaos explains that he will not hold back, and Wilhelm seems delighted that chaos is finally "entering the stage." Wilhelm then addresses chaos as "Yeshua", which may hint to a past partnership or rivalry between the two men. This could mean that Wilhelm is the antichrist, as "Yeshua" is said to be Jesus's true name. Near the end of Xenosaga Episode III, Wilhelm reveals himself to be "Heinlein", the leader of Ormus and Hyams. Throughout the entirety of the series he had been manipulating the U-TIC Organization, an Ormus front, and its leader Margulis, who up until that point had never actually seen Heinlein at all.

Wilhelm's link to the collective storyline upon which Xenosaga is based may lie in the subtitles of the Xenosaga games, Der Wille zur Macht (The Will to Power), Jenseits von Gut und Böse (Beyond Good and Evil) and Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra). These titles are shared with publications by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, whose middle name is shared by Wilhelm himself. This link helps to attribute Wilhelm to his role as an enigmatic manipulator of the events which unfold in Xenosaga. His name may also be a play on Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German emperor who lived during World War I, and may refer to him being the last "ruler" of a group or nation, perhaps humanity in general. Wilhelm himself says he has many names that define him, but only chaos knows his true name.

Some have noted that physically and personality wise Wilhelm is the direct opposite of chaos. He has pale skin and red eyes to chaos' dark skin and blue eyes. Wilhelm is also an active manipulator of nearly all significant events while chaos prefers to let others take the lead in events. Their various contrasts are highlighted in a promotional poster released for Episode I showing the outlines of the blue-eyed chaos and the red-eyed Wilhelm back-to-back bookending Shion and KOS-MOS in the middle of the picture.

In Episode III it was revealed that Wilhelm's ultimate purpose was to use Zarathustra to cause the eternal recurrence. This would cause time to reverse. Long ago in ancient times, the will of humanity resonated with chaos's power of Anima, resulting in the dispersal of consciousnesses that reject each other, a phenomenon that led the universe towards destruction. This dispersal phenomenon of consciousnesses that resonate with Anima would have eventually triggered chaos' failsafe, causing the destruction of the rejecting wills (Gnosis) and reset of the universe by the power of Anima. This was delayed by Mary, who used her power of Animus to seal away the power of Anima into the twelve Anima Vessels, which must be reawakened to be used to their full potential. While separated from his Anima power, chaos' failsafe ability could not ignite.

However, as long as Anima existed, the consciousnesses of the universe would continue to disperse until the universe was slowly destroyed by collapse. Wilhelm chose eternal recurrence to avoid this. By using Zarathustra he planned to perpetually rewind time to the past, living in an eternal cycle. This prevented both the collapse through dispersal and the destruction of wills by the failsafe. But this meant living the same lives over and over again. According to the database, it was unknown exactly how many times Zarathustra had been used in the past, be it ten times or ten thousand, or more.

Wilhelm is described as the "protector of lower-dimensional space." The operator of Zarathustra, he possesses a "temporal recurrence ability." He is known to be an existence like chaos, and has been around at least since very ancient times. Zarathustra was originally a Relic of God built by ancient peoples and orchestrated by Mary to invade the Higher Domain of God. It was known to have been powered by chaos' Anima power and controlled by Mary's Animus power. When their efforts ended in failure, Wilhelm took over, turning Zarathustra into a device for the purpose of Eternal Recurrence. Thus, it is likely that Wilhelm is meant to metaphorically represent Nietzsche himself. Nietzsche also described himself as "the bringer of eternal recurrence" in "Twilight of the Idols".

Wilhelm is perhaps the ultimate unexplained mystery of Xenosaga. At no point in the games, or any of the media related to them, is his character or even what he is explained. Even Episode III's database, which reveals everything once the game has been cleared, sheds little light on Wilhelm's history or nature. Fans have seemingly been left to come up with their own theories of who or what Wilhelm really is. He can be compared to Demiurge of the Gnostic religion who is said to be the creator and "caretaker" of the physical domain. Demiurge is portrayed as antagonistic to the will of the Supreme Creator, just like Wilhelm is antagonistic to U-DO's will. He also tried to entrap elements of the divine in the physical world, much like Wilhelm tries to seal away the "eyes of God", Abel and Abel's Ark, in order to have his way with the world. Also, Demiurge employed agents called Archons, powerful beings that acted on Demiurge's will. Demiurge's Archons can be comparable to Wilhelm's Testaments.

As a character he shares many similarities to the villain of Xenogears, Krelian. Like Wilhelm, Krelian was also a mysterious antagonist to the main characters who, like Wilhelm, is looking to save humanity through extremely misguided means. They both have humanity's best interests at heart, but are incredibly amoral characters.

There is another possible explanation for Wilhelm's motives, as outlined in the post-game database. It mentions the possibilty that Wilhelm was actually trying to force a revolution of human consciousness through the repeated use of Zarathustra. That is to say, he was training humanity (through the countless recurrances) to develop to the point that they could throw off the shackles of his control and pave their own way to the future. This seems to be supported by his lack of concern when the party threatens both himself and Zarathustra, but there is no conclusive evidence that this was his true motive. Incidentally, this theory creates parallels with the characters of Paul Muad'Dib and Leto Atreides II from the Dune series, another science fiction epic with heavy Jungian influences.