Welcome to Gaia! ::

Well since it had come up on some of the other XS boards that I frequent, I decided to do a bit of research on the name of the 13th Zohar emulator, Marienkind. There's actually a really interesting story behind the name (well it's interesting if you take into account how it is alluded to in XS). To sum up the story briefly: a girl is given 13 keys to the doors of heaven and told not to enter the 13th, she opens the other 12 to find the 12 apostles behind them but her curiosity gets to her and naturally she opens the 13th - and there she finds the Trinity. When questioned about it later she denies it and much misfortune befalls her everytime she is asked aboout it and subsequently denies it, that is until she is about to die and confesses when she is granted eternal happiness for confessing. (here's a link to a site with the whole story: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm003.html )

Now here's my little theory: First that the allusion applys to a bit more than just the 13th emulator, but rather all of the emulators since each of the other 12 are named after the apostles (and behind each of the 12 doors lay an apostle) - implying that the emulators are the "Doors of Heaven." Then there is the issue of the 13th, now I'm thinking that the "true" 13th door is not the emulator Marienkind, but rather the original Zohar (I haven't come up with anything about what the 13th emulator itself is though - a false door maybe?). So basically the allusion might be trying to hint that the Zohars are like doors - to what exactly in XS, I'm not sure, but most things seem to point at them being doors or gateways of some sort (a lot of people just seem to assume this). But to take my theory a bit further - on the idea that the original Zohar (found on Earth) is suposed to be the 13th door. Maybe the reason the Earth dissapeared was because the Zohar was "opened" in a sense and Earth was subsequently banished from the universe as a result (though there is the issue that the reason the girl in the marienkind story was punished, not for being disobediant and opening the door, but denying that she had - so maybe that factors in somewhere).

And now that I think about it, wasn't the 13th emulator the one recovered from the wreckage of the planet Ariadne (I don't remember it particularly well so I could be wrong)? Could Ariadne have suffered a similar fate to that of Earth (this assumes that my original theory is indeed true) because of the Zohar being "opened" in the Zohar link experiment? Maybe this hints that the 13th emulator is a more accurate copy of the original, or maybe this is a characteristic of all 12 (this theory doesn't quite work if I got which emulator that was recovered at Ariadne wrong though).

Any thoughts?

[Edit] Ooh I just remembered something interesting related to this! In the prologue to epsode I the Zohar appears after a small Zohar-shaped key is inserted into a rock - another allusion to the story maybe?

That theory is very very interesting. I haven't thought about that. I thought there was only one Zohar and the rest were copies or something like that. That does explain what may have happened to the Earth and Ariande.

well on the note of the last post, you realize deus means God right? so that probably is connected...ive been studying for exams so im sorta not thinking too well about anything else so someone else can draw the connection. unless everyone knows this and im being stupid cause i havent played the game enough yet. (still searching for bloody ps2 memory card. will find it...) o, and maybe the 13th zohar is how the various dead people get under/out of whilhelms control? i dunno. im procrastinating an essay so im not thinking im just typing for typings sake.

Emariliean: Since I'm pretty sure you don't know this I think I'll make a note of it here - Deus and the other unfimilar names that XavierRay is talking about are from Xenogears, predecessor to Xenosaga though possibly part of the same series. I haven't played it myself yet (I intend to after I play at least through ep3 of XS - I'm trying to be unbiased to some degree, everyone else (that I've talked to at least) who's played XG usually won't give XS a chance because it's "not as good as XG" - which I can completely understand as I have a similar sentiment about the FF series with respect to 7 - but still I want to enjoy the game in its own right before comparing it).

hehe. asl is soooo 8 year old aol chat rooms. anyway
ooo. i see. ill just shut up now.

Yes, Marienkind does litterally mean "Child of Mary" but that doesn't nessicarily mean it's a refference to Jesus. In this case the girl in the story is reffered to as "Marienkind" and according to the UMN database the Zohar emulator named Marienkind is a refference to the brother's Grimm story and not Jesus (though it's possible that it's a dual refference).

Huh? Who said XS wasn't as good as XG? It's by the same guy!

Don't worry, I didn't think you were referring to me specifically. I've met those people any they annoy the crap out of me. Personally, I'm enjoying XS more, mostly because it's actually well translated (since I'm a loser American, and I only speak English), and has the best voice acting I've ever seen in a game. I'm hoping XG will get redone in the same style.