Topic on User talk:DocColress
I'm sorry I wigged out over spoilers, it's just that TV Tropes adopted a no-spoilers rule in regards to some things, and I was a bit worried that the same would happen here. In fact, I trimmed down on spoilers a bit too in regards to the Zelda page.
But that's not important, as the important thing is that I've been continuing playing through Xenoblade. I should be ready to propose Lorithia if I feel that she's worth discussing (Though when I mentioned her earlier, I misattributed one of her crimes to another character. My bad!) in a few days, but for now I want some help with another character I've been wondering about.
He's an early-game villain named Xord, and like Metal Face he's a Faced Mechon: a Homs (Xenoblade human) who has been assimilated by the Mechon (Evil robotic creatures) and placed into a towering robotic body. Despite being basically the game's starter villain however, he's quite nasty indeed. Like Metal Face he's introduced in a brief cutscene leading a horde of lesser Mechon in an assault on the human establishment of Colony 6, burning the city to the ground and basically leaving it a crater, and actually does a more thorough job than Metal Face since the only refugees from the city are a sniper, her brother, and a few other civilians not able to fight. Anyone captured alive by Xord and his crew are taken down to the mines below the colony where he ate them all, and recalls it with a disgusting glee before laughing about it to Sharla's (the sniper) face, and gets sickeningly giddy when remarking that her little brother (A young child) will "make a tasty dessert!" He's killed soon after this, and no tears are shed after his demise.
Yet, there's one major problem and that's with the creation of Faced Mechon. It's like I said, the guy in charge of the Mechon, Egil, has Homs assimilated into gigantic Mechon and uses them as troops for his army. Before anything is cast into doubt, Metal Face has absolutely no problems with Moral Agency: he willingly sold out his own species and did all sorts of evil acts to spite an old friend he was jealous of. Xord on the other hand... I can't tell to be honest.
On one hand, he's certainly not fully brainwashed because later on long after Xord dies, Egil starts assuming direct control over his Faced Mechon and begins wiping their memories since the earlier Faced Mechon are too attached to their previous lives (which is what got Metal Face killed, he was too obsessed with spiting his former friend) and Xord is bursting with personality as he's an incredibly hammy, sadistic, gluttonous brute not to mention that he's explicitly bought up as an example as a Faced Mechon attached to their previous life, yet he states that he has some trouble remembering details from his previous life (He knows his name was Xord but that's all he discusses), and we have no idea what he was like in his previous life (he has a daughter back in Colony 9) so for all we know: he could have either been a good man in his previous life or he could have been unlikable before then.
Other than that though, there's nothing suggesting that he's being forced to do evil against his will: he mentions while dying that his eyes were opened in regards to the truth about Shulk's weapon (The Monado, and that it was wielded by a very evil god who from what I can tell does count as he's listed on TV Tropes) meaning that he very may be willingly helping Egil lay waste to all organic life (But it's not a redeeming quality: he just enjoys killing and devouring Homs and his relationship with Egil isn't disclosed) and while dying shows no regrets for what he's done ("Was a good ride while it lasted" in his own words).
He's basically without any redeeming qualities and I'd say that he's easily as heinous as Metal Face on the scale that they occupy (Albeit not as spiteful, petty, and vindictive), yet I just can't tell if his status as a Faced Mechon (albeit pre-brainwashing) hurts his moral agency to the point to where he doesn't count. I don't know! I'm sorry this question is super long, but I just want to make sure that every detail regarding him is here for you to see so you can decide for yourself.