A Psychological Analysis of Shulk and Zanza 

“the Monado quite literally turns Shulk into a shell of a person” OH!!!!!!! OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i really appreciate how you waste absolutely no time when talking about things. like everything you say feels meaningful

The Monado feeding into it's user's fears of the future and that fear making the user regress makes Moebius from 3 make a lot more sense as a villain Moebius is literally the fear of the future the design to avoid it at all costs. They’re that crippling anxiety that even afflicted Zanza. Which makes perfect sense as a final antsgonist for the saga revolving around Klaus and his actions.

Justice for Fiora. I’ve seen the fanbase say she isn’t that interesting but truly she’s a goated character.

"Providence is defined by the agency of other beings." Brilliant! Can't stop rewatching this part. Don't call this a psychological analysis; this makes SENSE and has INSIGHT!

I have to admit: Shulk [Kluhs] being an anagram of Klaus with an "h" instead of an "a" blew my mind more than it probably should have.

I heard a theory that when Zanza split from the architect they split the negative and positive qualities, but I disagree. In my eyes they both stem from anxiety for the architect the anxiety that his failure would repeat again, but for Zanza, the anxiety that he would lose everything he gained. It's much similar to how Shulk struggles with the visions. But unlike shulk, Zanza never had people like Reyn who made him open up about his anxieties and therefore he never opened up to people. He left himself closed off and disillusioned to the world around him. He's such an amazing parallel to Shulk and a lesson In the dangers of isolating yourself instead of taking that first step and opening up to others despite how scary it may be.

Dunban saying "I just stood and laughed", at 3:21, is one of the funniest out of context things in the game.

This video was great, I have heard many people say Shulk doesn't have a personality, but I have never been able to put into words how and why those statements felt wrong to me and this video expresses it perfectly. I love shulk as a character and I'm glad to see people analysing him to the same extent they analyse other characters in the franchise outside of "Machine boy with a voice in his head."

Normally I just let video essays play in the background, but with yours I'm rewinding any time I miss something. Your analysis of this game makes me see it in a new, more precise light and it's so beautiful. Thank you for sharing this!!

You can't help but smile when you see a friend's video essay come up in your own recommended feed. You know we could nerd out for hours, I'm just a text away :)

can we get a zanza render already please please please please please please please please please please

Excellent video. Shulk is the first character I really connected with. Your analysis really shows and describes why I find Shulk to be such a relatable character. Shulk to this day still remains my most favorite protagonist and male character.

if there are only 5 people talking about shulk and zanza then I am one of them. if there's only one person talking about shulk and zanza then it is me. if there's nobody talking about shulk and zanza then I am DEAD

I think my favorite thing about this game is that it always finds new ways for me to interpret the themes and the characters. A playthrough might have me view Zanza as symbolic for the game's rejection of godhood and the way power is used to control others, while essays like this one give me insight into the ways Zanza represents regression and isolation compared to Shulk's growth and formed connections. I don't think I'll ever grow tired of this game, truly.

Phenomenal video. Providence being the will of people to stand opposed to Zanza is really interesting. Kinda makes me think of collective consciousness. Shulk even says that everyone wishes for a world without gods when he makes the wish at the end. If he is following the idea that providence is the will of everyone to oppose Zanza's vision of the future then the very fact that the party was able to prevail against Zanza would be proof to him of that wish. Or I'm overthinking it and Shulk just wanted to sound dramatic and cool in front of Alvis.

This has given me a whole new level ofappreciation for XC1 and especially for Zanza. Thank you!

Glad to see more people talking about Zanza It saddens me that he’s generally considered the worst villain of XC1 The buildup and foreshadowing to him is nothing short of masterful in my opinion, and his character is often misunderstood.

I think it’s noteworthy to contrast how Egil feels deeply betrayed by Meyneth, with his hands shaking when speaking to her in Agniratha, and he talks about her as if they were good friends. Dickson is like honestly, “yeah, I don’t care.”

On the real, I'm really glad I discovered your videos recently. It's super interesting to get some character analysis, through the lens of someone who's studied psychology. I legit hope the bigger Xeno-tubers check out of your stuff.

This video outlines a lot of things about these characters that I didn't notice when I played this game. Something I noticed while watching this video is that isn't stated is that a parallel can be found in how Shulk becomes independent of Zanza with how he begins to see visions without the Monado and how the life of the Bionis has a history of abandoning its god.

30:39 "The other main symbol that Zanza is associated with is that of a Prison." I guess you could say he's linked to the *MONADO JAIL!* I'll see myself out...

Sooooo I have beaten this game a few times and did not come to several of these insights and conclusions. I have to say, you have an incredible talent of breaking down story into its art form, and an even greater talent in explaining it. Thank you very much, you made a game I already loved, and expanded it in an even greater way.

16:40 Speaking of this, there was a slight detail in the japanese voice acting that I'm not sure was intentional or not - Zanza at prison island at one point changes between the usual echo to a more muffled one. I interpreted this as the distinction between everyone being able to hear Zanza and only Shulk being able to hear Zanza, where every time Zanza is talking directly to Shulk he's speaking in his mind. While I'm still going through a watching of the sub's cutscenes and haven't reached the Mechonis Core scene, I absolutely adore this change in voice effect on a narrative level, and I wish that the localization kept this detail.

This was a great analysis. I've always really liked Zanza as a character and villain, but seeing this video helped me appreciate him a lot more. And although he isn't my favorite character or villain in the series, that would be Malos, I still think Zanza is fantastic. Plus Zanza the Divine remains the best final boss theme in the series and is my favorite final boss theme of any game.

And I'll also say that the more I think about Metal Face's possible motivations, the more I realize I relate to him as well... Now I also realize that not only is the Architect the part of Klaus that feels remorse for sundering and recreating the world, unlike Zanza, he is also the part that genuinely connected with his creation in a way that Zanza so desperately wanted to, but couldn't...

zanza is so fine

Shulk was already one of my favourite xenoblade characters and I'm really glad to see someone do an analysis on both him and Zanza, I'm really enjoying your xenoblade videos btw 👍👍

Waouh, that was so interesting ! I love psychology but have never really studied it, so a lot of Shulk's actions and lines threw me off a bit, but I never really could analyse why as you just did. Also since he's the protagonist, there's this halo of goodness around him that made it hard for me to question his way of manipulating others, even if it was soft and not on purpose.

Your videos are so incredible to the point that a like a comment don’t do them justice. As others have said, everything you bring up has so much intent and makes me rewind if I get even a tiny bit distracted. You’re able to shine light on pieces of the story that we could feel were there, but couldn’t see. I’ve once again finished one of your video with tears welling up and renewed appreciation of the beauty in this game. Thank you so much!!

You're doing the Lords work with these analysis videos. Hopefully more people can see XC1 story for how beautiful its intricacies are

It's funny. You mentioned that you'd explain Zanza more in depth, but not only did you deepen my understanding of Zanza, but Shulk as well. Thank you. 😁 Also, I'm realizing that there are a lot of parallels between Shulk vs Zanza and Noah vs N.

"Fearing the infinite possibilities of life, the future" - ...so pretty much Aionios/Moebius from 3, but on worldwide scale for them, it seems? And i love that you talked about how Shulk had already changed considerably by the final fight with Metal Face that his "sparing" him made sense, i usually see how that section was "bad writing", or that Shulk was behaving in a cowardly manner by not finishing off such an evil figure... And lastly, somehow, you were able to ... really give humanity to Zanza, to pull depth out of what most would call shallow, so much so that i'm unsettled by how much i realize i relate, to realize that he's actually me, kind of, if i fall any further...

You understand this story and these characters to such an amazing degree. There were a number of lines and scenes, such as Shulk's lines about Meyneth on the beach, that I hadn't ever really understood before. Xenoblade 1 has truly incredible writing, expansive in scope yet wholly coherent, and you highlight that expertly. It's a shame that you aren't more well known. I admire your work. Thank you P.S. Somehow the Prison Island scene is even deeper in meaning than I thought. I'm starting to think you could write a 100 page book analysing it and it wouldn't need filler.

Abshdhxuduebhsduxuu!!!! This!! This video ROCKS!! Now I know why I relate so hard to Shulk and Xenoblade Chronicles 1. (Spoiler: it's definitely ASD)

I wish I'd seen a video like this years ago when I was addicted to Xenoblade 1. I feel like for so long I reveled in that game without ever really grasping the themes at play and many times actually misinterpreting them entirely or just having no clue what they meant. Shulk's dream never really made sense to me beyond it seeming like a very accurate depiction of the kinds of nightmares I personally experience.

YESSSS SHES BACK WITH ANOTHER. AFTER YOUR LAST VIDEO YOU HAVE BECOME ONE OF THE CHANNELS I CANT WAIT FOR VIDEOS FROM KEEP IT UP LOVE YOUR STUFF YOU HAVE SUCH A UNIQUE TAKE ON THINGS YOU'RE FANTASTIC. Also, thank you for doing some analysis on zanza and shulk because I feel like there's not enough. Talk about zanza

Great video. Nicely organized with each topic flowing logically into the next. XC1 was fun for really subverting my expectations of what I thought it would be (in a good way). The game initially seemed like it was going for a standard revenge plot but gradually gets recontextualized into actually just being an elaborate story of one man trying to get over himself. Shulk and Zanza are two aspects of the greater whole that is Klaus (which is why Alvis plays both sides in the story as a therapist). Zanza is using Shulk as a vessel...yet the Bionis that the party travels through is also Zanza's primordial shell. So in effect he is overcoming himself as Shulk by venturing into the chaotic unknown of his own being. It's less about the standard "breaking the cycle of vengeance" and more about examining Shulk/Zanza's (Klaus') attempt at reconciling with the machines (progress). Zanza attempts to cull humanity and keep it from advancing too far...because he himself has already lived a parallel of the future that Shulk's world would inevitably trend towards as Klaus and he was the one personally responsible for its ruin by fiddling around with technology (chaos) he didn't fully comprehend. In turn, he seeks to control humanity rather than let it proliferate less they repeat his mistakes. This is why Zanza is missing for an alarming amount of the story's runtime; the story is examining how humanity can perform in absence of any higher (divine) order to control it and posing the question of whether or not the people of this world even deserve to advance into the future (with people like Mumkhar and Egil being big counterpoints). Wild

this video really shines a light on what i loved abt shulk and zanza even in just my initial playthrough of xc1. i think i will always love rex more as a protagonist (im currently playing through xc3 so we’ll see if that changes), but the fact both characters are still so beloved is a real testament to how good these games are.

I fucking adore this video. It brings to light so many random little concepts and questions that were bouncing around in my head but I never felt I could properly put to words. Genuinely massive thanks for making this.

Really amazing analysis!! I like the psichology analysis of shulk, so many details to which I can relate.. I think that is why i like the game so much 😊

Xenoblade Chronicles is my favorite franchise and shulk is my favorite protagonist thank you for this amazing video

Only a month between this video and the last one? And the video is a banger? We eating good

The character everyone else owes their depth to! I especially liked the color segment. I generally considered the gold on Zanza as an eternal "what now?", a goal pursued for its value but only good to be traded for something else. Yellow as you described it is much more telling, though. Just saw the description; thanks for the sources on color theory!

Your videos are so good! I wish I had the ability to articulate my my analysis of thing like you. A lot of what you say about “living authentically” is what I have tried to express as “rising above one’s circumstances.” Zanza and Shulk in the beginning make all of their bad choices in response to their poor circumstances and let that control them. By the end, Shulk is making good choices in SPITE of his poor circumstances, rather than because of them. So yeah, fantastic video and I hope more people find your channel because your videos are definitely worth their time.

Always a pleasure to view a xc1 vid! It has philosophy and character analysis too? I was never sad xD Xc1 deserves so much love, than it actually gets in the full trilogy!

Ty for this, wish I was smart enough to read into this stuff on my own but your videos really help me appreciate this game more

Ayo, is that voice a real person? It's a freakin lullaby dang

Great video!! It’s kind of besides the point, but I love and appreciate how clear the narration is

I admittedly have not watched the video yet. I am like a minute in. But I am already so excited. I feel like NO ONE talks about Zanza. But I think he is a very interesting character. Spoilers ahead. But I feel like the future installments kind of turn him into the "Bad part" of another greater being is super regressive. I think it very much reinforces peoples opinion that Zanza is a shallow character. But I don't believe he is. In particular I think the line "All that I am... is fading." is super powerful.

I can't believe I missed that Shulk backwards almost spells out Klaus..... :O

next xenoblade analysis vid just dropped

I like how the video ended with the theme Riki's Kindness. I't one of my favourite pieces of music in the whole Xenoblade franchise and fits the tone of the video's conclusion to a tee.

I never realized til now just how intimately the whole of Shulk's character arc and by extension the plot of the game itself is tied to his autism, rather than it just being an incidental trait of his to inject some flavor. Which actually makes a lot of sense, since the other Xeno franchise games do something similar with Fei/Pythra's DID and Shion's PTSD, where their character development is tied to them learning to accept their mental disorder or the supernatural equivalent of it while not letting it define and confine them. Obviously I'm not trying to say that autism is a mental disorder, of course, but rather to focus on the storytelling parallels. Granted, they don't explicitly say Shulk is autistic, but they also didn't say Shion has PTSD either, when it's pretty obvious she does. While some could argue that having this kind of arc could stigmatize autism as something that leads to harm, I actually find it uplifting. Because to me the message is that a lot of the negative stereotypes commonly associated with autism are the kinds of things one can potentially work their way out of, and through the guidance of people who are supportive and understanding, not cruel and judgmental. Overall Shulk's autism is shown to be harmless or even a net good, not something that needs to be cured or pathologized, and FR is pretty clear about that too with how it depicts older Shulk and Nikol. Also, for a game whose major theme is about forming connections with others to have its protagonist be autistic (a neurodivergent condition with an unfair reputation for not being able to form those connections, one the writers are aware is patently untrue based on their handling of Sakura Mizrahi in Xenosaga) creates some unique conflicts on that front, but in ways that helps highlight those themes further. In Fei, Pythra, and Shion's case they have mental disorders brought on trauma, whereas H2Hs establish that Shulk is aware his brain works a little differently but has mostly accepted that part of himself. Thus the story of his self-actualization ends up focusing almost entirely on the growth aspects and about not letting his autism confine him, rather than reconciling with the dark parts of himself that he locked away, to account for the fact that autism isn't traumagenic, so that standard Xeno conflict is reconfigured into being caused by an external doppelganger... sort of. Regarding the host-parasite relationship between Shulk and Zanza, in light of the above I've also viewed it as a metaphor for maladaptive intrusive thoughts. Zanza is a different person from Shulk, and while he represents the kind of person Shulk could've become if he walked a different path refused to grow, IMO he doesn't put evil thoughts into Shulk's brain so much as amplify tiny impulsive voices that already existed in Shulk's head, Shulk's id if you will, to the point he has to put active effort into pushing them away. This is probably the part of Shulk's arc that most closely resembles the acceptance/reconciliation aspects of Gears, Saga, and Blade 2.

Wake up babe new PhantonHeit video!!!!!

I enjoyed the analysis thanks, the effort put into it is well appreciated.

This is a great video, I hope you keep making videos!

Thanks to this video my attention has been brought to aspects I never paid attention towards, nice! Also a fellow Dazai fan, let's go :D

Klaus is Shulk spelt backwards (sort of!)

Very cool video!

Amazing video!

great video

Typically, I tend to not like saying that I feel as if a character *X* coded, but in Shulk's case he does strike me as possibly being autistic, or, rather he seems to have traits that align with what was once known as Asperger's Syndrome (I say this as someone who was once diagnosed with Asperger's). I do wonder though, if that was the way Klaus was, and if so, Shulk ended up like that due to Zana's influence from a young age. Speaking of, it's also rather strange that Shulk ended up looking & sounding like Klaus, I've always wondered if that was also Zana's doing, maybe not directly. However, since Shulk had Zana's spirit in him from such a you age, could that have perhaps caused his physical body to grow into more of a *Klaus* shape perchance? This is all speculation at this point. One last thing, I wish this video talked about Future Connected and Future Redeemed just a bit to touch on Shulk's growth and how different he ended up then where he started.

shoutout to the silly blonde british men for letting phantomheit analyse them for 40 minutes. what a bunch of jokers

Any thoughts on the themes of Xenoblade 2?

as for shulk: in other words… ✨ autism ‼️ ✨ genuinely adore how you describe everything, better than probably anyone i know could, because it further proves why i related to shulk so so heavily throughout my life as someone with autism. i feel like not only does this video help people understand these characters and the game more, but potentially even people like me more, who cling to characters such as shulk. thank you for the hard work

Shulk being the autsim represtation we need

Fantastic video! I feel like many times whenever Zanza is brought up in discussions it mostly his relavance to the plot and his character, but delving into him and Shulk, their similarities and differences, is really unique and interesting. Curious what you think of his character in Xenoblade 2 too.

Love the video, keep up the good work.🩷