XCOM Theory - Is the Commander in fact an Ethereal! 

I think the lore and motivations of the Ethereals in XCOM and XCOM 2 changes between games. In XCOM Enemy Unknown and Enemy Within, the Ethereals are trying to create supersoldiers out of humanity to try and fight another, unspecified enemy and it is heavily implied they engineered humanity that way over hundreds of thousands of years. In XCOM 2, the motivations of the Ethereals is to find a way of fixing their muscular degeneration, but it also seems that they want to make Humanity into some of their finest soldiers whilst also bolstering the capabilities of their other footsoldier species. The Commander in XCOM 2 could be The Volunteer from XCOM Enemy Unknown/Within. The original commander could have been killed in the Bad End XCOM EU/EW that XCOM 2 is based off of (as remember, XCOM 2 is a 'what if' scenario based off of a what if scenario where XCOM loses. Canon results from the first game is an XCOM victory). The XCOM 2 commander being The Volunteer would explain the extremely powerful psionics, and as The Volunteer was supposed to be a very high ranked soldier, it would also exeplain the tactical and strategic excellence the Commander is known for.

"He is basically an invisible friend who is always with you" Alright, I have to get it out of my system. Basically, what you're saying is he is kinda like a Stand.

"you have succeeded where we have failed" The uber etheral says quote "behold...we are the ethereal ones. The first...failure" I think that references an uber alien species that commands the ethereals or some other species that tried to uplift them and gave them "the gift" but they were struck with the rapid muscular atrophy disease we see in xcom 2. Sort of like how the sectoids were cowardly and the floaters were mindless cyberdiscs had shortcomings the drones repaired. etc. and they were all failures, but humans can embrace the gift without any noticeable changes. I think thats what it means. The etherals are trying to atone for their failures and please their masters by curing themselves with human dna, I think. One other thing, at the end of xcom 2 the commanders avatar gets into a psionic battle with the...ghosts or whatever of the 3 ethereals and hes loosing, then he gets surrounded by a BLUE aura and beats them all back with blue psionics, easily. I dont think the commander is an ethereal(the title is a little misleading, no offense) but its a safe bet he was aided by asaru.

"The volunteer is the commander" No, he's not, every interaction with the staff would indicated the he's not.

The issue is, the volunteer never happened because according to the official XCOM 2 Lore, XCOM lost when their HQ was attacked in the first game which is how the commander got captured. That's from the words of the dev team, as well as the book that came out before XCOM 2's release. Great theory, just too little research into the lore beyond the games.

No... the commander is a very tactical and stretegically minded human. He is a modern Sun-Tzu, a 21rst century Alexander The Great. He is the Emperor of Mankind, awoken and unleashed to defend humanity from despicable Xenos threats.

When XCOM 2 was announced and the fact it was in a different universe wher the XCOM 1 war was lost, I had a theory that you could play as the volunteer from XCOM 1 who, in their escape attemt from the temple ship jumped universes - so there is an experienced soldier, who fought and won a war, but in a world in the future where the enemy is evolved, so only his tactical experience remains.

Okay so, regardless of how The Commander and Asaru are linked, say they are. In the Bureau I got the impression that the Ethereal within me, WAS me (Asaru, apparently. I don't remember learning it's name.) The Ethereal was supposedly born from within that capsule or whatever it was and brought the main character back from the brink of death (I dont even remember his name at this point) from there you continue playing, thinking you are the main character who is a human and fighting for everything a human would fight for. Later in the game, the Ethereal is forced out of the main characters body (I dont remember the details it was awhile ago, sorry) and the main character wants to kill it, while it still believes it must fight for humanity. --- MY POINT IS, the Ethereal made a perfect fusion with a human body without all the Avatar project/mutated aliens mumbo-jumbo all the other half dead/dying Ethereals are doing. It continued to do so with another human body after leaving that body, and assuming it is linked to the commander, it did it again with him. "You have succeeded where we have failed." He can exist within different bodies seamlessly while the others are stupid and dying within failed experiments. They want HIM so they can take whatever it is he's able to do as an example, or something. He is not willing to go, he practically is human. He always has fought for the humans. And so he did.

The theory that the Volunteer is the Commander is quite possible. So in XCOM 2 once the chip has been removed and Tygen has done his analysis, he says that you (the commander) were experiencing, wargames/simulations (to which Bradford says "they were using you against us". So what if the Volunteer is the Commander but in the stasis simulation. The reason I say this is because I believe that, during the XCOM base assault in Enemy Unknown, according to the timeline, you lose. During the base assault you are captured (and knocked out by a Muton as scene in a "flashback" when having the chip removed), you are then carted off to a facility and placed within the stasis chamber and live through the rest of the war within the Stasis simulation. That way the Volunteer could be the Commander because in the simulation it is the Commander who flies the ship and sacrifices himself, only to be woken up by Bradford 20 years later. This also makes sense when looking at XCOM Enemy Within. In there you meet a woman on the damn, whom was hunted by the aliens and EXALT. Then you come across other gifted people who you can recruit should you manage to save them. Well these people that you save could go on to become the Chosen we see in XCOM 2, but only possible if we never rescue them, plus you only get this mission *after* the base assault. So whilst I don't think the commander is an Ethereal per say, I'd say it is likely that Asaru is assisting the Commander in XCOM 2 at least and possibly whilst in the stasis chamber, Asaru assists the mind of the Commander, helping them survive the whole thing, as Tygen says "The shear volume of date passing through, it's quite impressive you managed to survive the ordeal". Then there is the fact that when reaching the end of the Temple Ship in EU, the Ethereals seem almost "desperate" to stop the commander, as they realise the commander (and humanity) are willing to sacrifice themselves to ensure victory. That way the Volunteer could be the Commander since the Volunteer never dies, since it's all within the alien's simulation. Plus it is quite possible that the Commander could be the Volunteer since the Volunteer has extremely powerful psionic powers (possibly assisted by Asaru?) which we see later displayed in the final mission of XCOM 2 where he holds the gateway open and fights off the other Ethereals. So basically to summarise, I believe that during the base invasion of Enemy Unknown you fail (which is why it's super difficult compared to all missions prior and shortly after, almost as if you're supposed to fail). Then the Commander is whisked away and placed inside of a simulation and lives through the rest of the campaign within the simulation, but just after Volunteer (who is probably the commander) sacrifices themselves and the game is won, Bradford breaks the Commander out of the Clinic and Tygen removes the chip disconnecting him from the psionic network (where Asaru gives a little boost to make sure you survive) and thus begins XCOM 2 and explains why you have to re-research all the tech again and only start with ballistic weapons. Edit: That being said, I'm more interested on who the Ethereals kept referring to. In the end cutscene of XCOM 2 the Ethereals say "It will follow you as it has followed us" plus the Templar ending with Geist saying "now the real war begins" (plus I'm pretty sure these "others" get referenced a few rimes in EU and other places. I'm just really interested in what scared the Ethereals so much, and what it is that was chasing them since I don't think there final messages where just the ramblings of a person afraid to die, I genuinely think something terrified them and if something could scare even them, that kinda worries me.

This is new to you guys? This has been my head cannon since Declassified came out.

If you look at one of the first cut scenes in XCOM 2, after the Commander was extracted, the Codex that investigates the area has "Danger. Avatar is Missing" written on its HUD!

"You have succeeded where we had failed" An interesting theory indeed. I always attributed this to meaning that humanity had been the first species the ethereals had seen to perfectly mesh brawn with brains. For example, while things like mutons are incredibly physically powerful, they have a tendency to be rather brutish and dull witted. Where as sectiods are smart and cunning psionics but extremely frail in body. Even the ethereals, powerful as they are, had surprisingly frail bodies in exchange for ridiculous psi abilities. Yet Xcom just casually starts dropping things like cybernetic mech troops and seemly regular humans who can rival the ethereals in psi power after just a month or so of alien contact and R&D. So the motive seemed clear, the aliens invaded because the humans raw, untapped power scared them. The ethereals however had long wanted this power for themselves and sought to use humanity as a vehicle for developing it for them.

I agree. I had this theory when I played through the first game a few times. The level of power and control over your soldiers is unquestionable. If you think about it, you are mind controlling your soldiers whenever you play on the field or in the base. People who serve you do so with complete faith and never disagree with what you do. Theyre hynotized by you. In the second game you control the avatar, which was create specifically to be controlled by ethereals. You just hop in all willy nilly and mind control anything near you. It makes it apparent that you have succeeded where the others (ethereals) have failed because you can body hop like they wish they could. You control the whole base with just one mind (the players).

The premise of the Commander being psionically gifted actually makes sense from a gameplay perspective too. It might be that the commander is able to change his perception of time to see it as we see the game, allowing him precise control over his soldiers.

This actually has a lot more evidence then I was expecting.

While I do agree an ethereal does control the commander, there are a few flaws with your theory. First off its cannon that the war ended before we got laser weapons. A lot of people say that the commander was taken by the aliens and used his tactical and strategical genius to conquer the rest of earth. This is supported by what we see in the computers during the cutscenes in xcom 2. The rest of xcom eu/ew was a simulation is my personal theory on that, but thats off the topic., though it could be what the "you will defeat them hear as you did once before" line is from. The ethereals needed humans to stop their rapid tissue degeneration as we can infer from the avatar project to stop them and abducting the humans. Throughout the final missions in both games and throughout xcom eu/ew it is hinted at that humans will become like the aliens with psionics. So its likely that psionics caused this degeneration, and humans are the only species so far to be able to handle it. The reason we know this is that they came across each different species, sectoid, muton, berserker, etc. likely took their favorable genes, and continued looking for a species that could save them as depicted in certain xcom 2 cutscenes (the computers). In both games they keep saying "why us, why the humans?" with the aliens invading and staying there, its because they're going to save themselves by uploading themselves into the avatars, thats what avatars are/do. In the very last cutscene of xcom 2 you see the commander fighting with blue energy (probably psioncis) against the purple psionics of the ethereals. This is probably the psionics of the ethereal mentioned in the video. As you said we see an ethereal in the cutscenes on the commanders avatar. This is basically proof that the commander is at least being used as a vessel by some ethereal. Edit: one more thing, the ethereals are the ultimate failure because even with all of their magic powers and technology, they can't cure themselves. They need humanity to save themselves

I will never understand why they didn't write that they found another identical commander and flat out say that there are thousands of commander clones and the player character is just one of them, and all of those commander clones are playing x-com 1 and also are part of the control network for the advent soldiers. It seems like somebody wrote it this way and somebody edited it to not be that.

Now, I want to put forward my own theory and I think it's very likely to be what's going on in XCOM lore. I don't know if anyone has said this in the comments, but I'll say it anyway. Firsly, I agree with your theory that the commander is an ethereal, much like William Carter (Or maybe he is William Carter OwO). He isn't an elder, but he does have an ethereal residing in him. In this theory, the most important thing I would like to stress is that I think Ethereals =/= Elders. The reason for this is because in XCOM EU/EW, the final Uber Ethereal introduces himself by saying this: "Behold... The first failures.. Of the Ethereal ones. We who failed to ascend as they thought we would."' In my mind, the Ethereals are invisible beings, tied to hosts as seen in the case of Assaru and William Carter. The way they are created seems to require a strong will, an independant mind and compassion, things the Elders seem to be looking out for when picking their ascension candidates ( The Sectoid's brilliance, the muton's strength, the Thin Man's (Viper's) strong sense of will in their loyalty). The Elders in XCOM EU/EW seem to want to create Ethereals as they keep jumping from place to place, searching for beings capable of recieving 'The Gift'. This seems to be because of the event that is to come that has them scared. And this is also the reason they want the Commander. They aren't looking to capture him for his mind. They are trying to make more Ethereals out of the human populace as they seem to be capable of it. However, for some reason, likely their rapid muscular deterioration, the Elders decided to abandon that course when they started the Avatar project. They wanted to ascend, and so instead of making more Ethereals, they decided to become like the Ethereals, creating human bodies to possess in order to emulate the Ethereal ones, who seem to be like Gods to them. This is the timeline as I see it. - The XCOM initiative started on the first invasion and it failed terribly, leading to the commander - The commander basically plays XCOM: EU/EW while the aliens make use of his mind to send tactical data to their troops. - The commander beats XCOM: EU/EW and the Elders talk about their previous creations with him. The sectoids, floaters, mutons, chysallids, thin men, and themselves via the psionic network. As the commander was connected to the network, they were more or less sharing a hivemind. - The commander is then rescued by Central, Jane Kelly and Crasher 1 and 2 ( I can't remember their names.) - The commander leads XCOM to victory against the Elders and reclaims earth. Edit: Actually... XCOM: EU may have been the game which has the canon ending of you failing and getting captured. EW may be you working for the aliens by giving them advice on how to genetically modify/cybernetically enhance their troops. I just thought of something else. What if the Chosen are the Furies, but aren't the Furies? What if the Furies missions in XCOM EW were you helping the aliens capture the candidates for the Chosen by giving them instructions on what to do? And after capturing them, what if you were the one telling the aliens how they should be genetically modified to better suit their role?

He is not an Ethereal himself. He shares the body with the ascended Ethereal from the Bureau. If he was, we'd known that. After all, we play as the Commander. This particular Ethereal greatly enhanced host's (i.e. Commander's) ability, giving him genius-level intellect, which allowed him to be put in charge of the XCOM Project. And all enemy Ethereals are those who have failed to ascend. They search the Galaxy for a species with high psi poential that can serve as their avatar. And they have found Humanity. Thus, by destroying project Avatar, we've effectively signed their death warrant.

I've seen a lot of scifi in my life and so Asaru being an entity of energy that is also bound to a host is not a new concept. That being said, I believe that Asaru's people tried to make their own bodies to possess and that resulted in the Ethereals. However, as they say in the end of eu/ew, they were the first failure. It's been said somewhere in the comments before but I feel it bears repeating: mages and other "gifted" individuals tend to be weak in stature but their minds and mental prowess are fair better than others, so it's too far of a stretch to believe that Asaru's people made the Ethereals with mental capacity as their main concern, since they would need beings with the potential to house their immense power. Ethereal (thanks high school education) means delicate or fragile yet divine, so it's likely that Asaru's people deemed them flawed due to their frail bodies which also has an effect on how long they can live (hence the need for the Avatar Project in X2). In eu/ew, through the autopsy, we learn that they can live to be thousands of years old, but we also learn (through their own admission) that they exist in a way similar to Darth Nihilus from the Star Wars EU in that they need to feed on the energy of others to sustain themselves or die. So they travel the universe cultivating "the Gift" of psionics in other species so that they can create the perfect body for their creators (or to taunt them with, kind of a "we succeeded where you failed" kind of thing) and feed off the energy of beings who achieved psionics but failed to be powerful enough, and if a species failed to even achieve psionics, the Ethereals took them for their genes or for use in their army (as we see in every XCOM game). Notice how every non-psionic alien is incredibly strong, while the psionic species are weak (with the exception of the Ethereals themselves, since their psionic abilities allow them to manipulate space ie levitation, rifts, etc. so their strength comes from psionics). But then they find Earth and find that humans have great psionic potential while also not being physically weak (unlike the sectoids). They take a big interest in us and see if our genes can improve the physical nature of psionically gifted species without compromising their psionic abilities. They find that they can (by using the sectoids as lab rats and making them much larger and with visible muscle definition) and become determined to use humanity to create better vessels for their power (minus the muscle atrophy/decay). And so, the Avatar Project is born. Bringing this back to Asaru, I believe that Asaru was tasked with destroying his people's mad creation and has been helping humanity fight them by bonding with a host with great influence/potential. I also think that going long periods of time in a host leaves Asaru confused, at least identity wise, since he merges and becomes one with his host, over long periods of time his personality and his hosts become less and less distinguished as he instead becomes a co-pilot, subtly influencing his host while also giving them immense power. So I believe the commander is also merged with Asaru, and that he is the unnamed Ethereal who speaks to us, but he is referring to the events of The Bureau and he is referring to humanity as a whole when he says "you"

I've been playing X-com; Enemy Unknown on my PS3 for some time now. I'm putting together a new gaming PC and look forward to playing Enemy Unknown and Enemy Within; which I bought recently. Thanks for the info; it'll be more fun to play, knowing better how to plan strategy, tactics and logistics.

wait so we got gollum and sauroin in this plot? is gandalf next?

I don't think anyone cares for spoilers of XCOM Declassified.

maybe the commander is dracula.

I always wanted to know who was the random Ethereal at the end mission talking me with no title.

Despite the commander being transferred to the Avatar we still command our troops from third person like a ghost floating above the battlefield so here is my guess as to why: We play as the Ethereal guiding the Commander and his soldiers thus why we also play the tutorial mission because we aren't stuck as the Commander while he is in stasis.

There was no "second wave" of aliens. The canonical beginning to XCOM 2 is you losing XCOM EU. That's the ending they took. There are two possible endings for XCOM EU, winning and losing, and they picked the losing ending.

At the beginning of XCOM2, the Ethereal reached out to the Commander. The Commander was dying when Tygan pulled out the chip, just like William Carter. Asaru reached out. When the Commander's Avatar (C.A.) was completed, it was clear that, as a human, the Commander would not be able to control the Avatar. So Asaru pulled back, releasing the Commander. Afterwards, Asaru entered the C.A. alongside the Commander's consciousness. That is why the C.A. was able to "fight" against the combined powers of the Ethereals during the final moments: Because that was not the Commander but Asaru himself. In XCOM EU/EW, not sure if Asaru was bonded to the commander, but when The Volunteer entered the Gollop Chamber, Asaru decided to bond with The Volunteer, because only Ethereals can operate the device. That also explains why, as the Ethereal mothership was breaking apart, no matter what the gender of the Volunteer was, you hear a male voice shouting, "GO!" I believe that was Asaru yelling to the other team members. It is possible though that Asaru _was_ bonded with the Commander; that's why the Commander was captured and kept; the Ethereals of XCOM2 wanted to "extract" Asaru from the Commander but Asaru dug in deep.

From the cutscenes and in-game text we know that XCOM had some of their soldiers outfitted with tier 2 weapons and armor and that they were just starting to train psionics. I think XCOM was defeated some time around the EW base attack. I think that the Commander has always been a potent psionic but during his time with ADVENT Asaru may have linked with him. As to the ''You will defeat them here as you did once before'' line he could have either referenced the bureau and was speaking about humanity as a whole. Or the comment was not directed at the Commander but at Asaru and the ethereal who was talking was someone with the same views as Asaru.

The "return you to their place" thing probably means because the whole stasis thing, but I originally thought this and didn't realize people would think it.

The commander was only Ethereal when he controlled the Avatar body

The implication of 2 is pretty ironed out as far as I can tell. At least half of the first XCOM game *NEVER HAPPENED*. You, a human commander, initially did well against the aliens, but then the base invasion mission happened, and the entire point of it was to not only destruy XCOM HQ, but to capture *your character*, which they succeeded in doing. Everything after that (from the Commander's perspective), is an elaborate simulation created by the aliens to make the Commander control ADVENT forces against the human resistance. Think about all the times you launched attacks against "landed" UFOs that never bothered to even try to take off; JUST CALL reinforcements. Were they UFOs, or rather resistance camps the aliens found and ran a simulation to "compel" them to wipe them out? Consider MEC troopers for a moment. In the sequel we find that XCOM never got CLOSE to making cybernetics like that...but ADVENT does possess MEC walkers based on prototypes stolen from the late Dr. Shen... XCOM 1 didn't happen, and their IS no Volunteer... *HOWEVER*, I am prepared to entertain the idea that due to your treatment, reception to said treatments, and invaluable status to the ethereals that the Commander is effectively the same thing AS the Volunteer.

I know I'm a whole 2 years late, but I just stumbled upon this video and had an idea myself. My idea is about the whole "you will defeat there here as you did once before" comment in the final mission of XCOM 2. Some people have commented that it can't be talking about the ending of EU/EW because in XCOM 2's timeline, XCOM EU/EW was ended in the base assult. However, when you research the chip pulled out of thr commander in XCOM 2, Tygan mentions in the cutscene that the implant was providing thr commander with tactical simulations and war games and stuff, and it actually shows brief clips of what is very obviously EU or EW, even showing a Sectopod, which wouldn't appear until after the base defense if I remember correctly... which leads me to believe that all of the events of EU/EW AFTER the base assault actually DID happen, but only in your mind... and if Asaru is really mind controlling the commander while still allowing them to retain their own personality like you described, then he would know about these events that only happened in your mind, which incudes the final assult of EU/EW, which would warrant the "You will defeat them here as you did once before" comment and make it even better proof for your theory.

hey guys i just noticed something whilst play a new play through of xcom 2, in the cut scene where they remove the chip. you hear what sounds like a flat-line tone and Lilly say no signal. then you see the blue aura ethereal raise its hand and use its psionics and boom... commanders alive again

This is my understanding or at least my first thoughts. In xcom 1 nothing was revealed about the elders true intentions until the volunteer, it was then I theorized that the elders were searching for a psionic adept species that can surpass their own abilities. And when they found a species they processed the planet to see if their natural psionics stacked up to theirs, when they didn’t( Which was likely) the processed the entire planet for cloning and later genetic and sometimes cybernetic improvements destroying their civilization. The continued this cycle until the found us, when they noticed the volunteer, they knew that humanity matched their natural psionic abilities to a extent I didn’t know. In xcom 2 it was revealed that the commander had been captured for tactical improvements. It showed the commander Endless xcom 1 scenarios to use in their war against the resistance. But I also noticed that the finial mission could’ve been a simulation to capture the avenger (continued)

nah my money is the commander got experimented on to unlock his psionic potential and unfortunately for the aliens he has a lot of it as in you are dealing with an Omega level mutant psychic

Wow!!! So deep investigation, dude!!

to be perfectly honest, i like to think that yes, some reference to Terror from the deep will be making itself known in the third official installment in the XCOM reboot series. consider this: after defeating ADVENT in XCOM 2, we are given a glimpse of SOMETHING coming out of what looks like the seafloor. and in the scene introducing the Chosen, the Ethereal says their "time on this world is almost up" as if they had to move on somewhere. i personally believe that the Ethereals were running from... Something. can't say what, only that they are trying to stay ahead of it.

Actually Yes At The End Of XCOM 2 He Gets The Ethereal Powers Of The Avatar And The Elders

From what I allways thought at least was that the events of the first game (Remake) was mostly just tactical simulations run through the Commander's brain connected in a network with basically all Advent officers while the Commander was in captivity as it is stated after he is rescued the network start to collapse.

Wasn't that the entire premise of the XCom game set in the 1950's? I didn't play it but I read that the main character was or was possessed by an ethereal.

Here is my theory: The commander was capture in XCOM EU, however, everything that happend after that, happend in commander´s head, by an alien simulation, so they could learn the human strategy.

@ 5:15 what cut scene is that called? I have been trying to find it all day!

welp, before seeing this video i actually believed that the commander IS a rouge ethereal hiding between humans and by the advantage of psionic power and the desire to protect the land that he now calls home get to that charge

Xcom 2 devs announced early (before it was released) that Xcom failed in the original war, they never even made it out of ballistic stage. While it's a neat theory that does tie some things together, we do know the commander from Xcom: EU/EW is also the commander for Xcom 2 and the "Temple Ship" mission never took place. Xcom never got psionics nor any other advanced tech (cus then they'd have it in Xcom 2, right?). I am curious about that whole "If you only knew the truth" line though....Can't wait for the expansion.

I'd like to note that the clip showing your volunteer sacrificing himself actually shows he survives, it's just goes so quickly you miss it. It was someone else that pointed it out to me, but just as we are about to cut away to the ship exploding, there is a small flash of light around the volunteer, and when it clears, he's no longer there.

But really a theory but confirmed fact. It's pretty well laid out in Xcom declassified. There even imply the reason the commander can control the troops and control time is because of this. You can briefly hear the XCOM music when this is said to further imply it.

The only thing that I can think of that would help the pinned comment is that the volunteer ended up going back in time and created a ripple effect. Causing the war to be lost. And himself captured.

I have a theory that every soldier who fight under Menace 1-5 are mindlinked with the Commander given that unless panicking, they'll follow the Commander's order down to the exact grid. The soldiers are only autonomously acting on their own when they're off duty or sent into covert actions.

Some interesting points in there. I'd love to see info from the creation team about it.

These theories that both you and the comments provide are truly amazing. I must say I never thought that Asaru would be part of what happened during X-Com eu/ew and/or X-Com 2. Mostly because I haven't played The Bureau, I also thought that The Bureau was the thing in the X-Com franchise that we would never relate to. Because of the way that it was talked about after it's release back in 2013.

I think the big problem is they released a book that reveals what happened and throws out a lot of what happened in enemy unknown

Good theory, the truth I had thought that the volunteer was still alive because his power went beyond the earthly and even if his body has been destroyed his psi power would not let it cease to exist. A question outside the topic, what are the mods you used in this video? Also, some mod you recommend me because I just got the game XD

I'd like an updated version of this now that we've seen the expansion. :)

Here's an idea, what if the commander isn't the first commander. Due to the Alien's mastery of genetic, psionic, and neural sciences. It is extremely possible that the commander we play as in XCOM 2, while being The Commander, isn't the first one. He's basically a cloned version of the original that's been modified over and over. Which would explain why he can withstand the strain of the psionic network, and seems to be just like the volunteer.

You forgot the "You will be reclaimed!" Lined.

i've been replaying the x-com enemy within and just found out about this...its an easter egg but it could link to Asaru (the ethereal) and the commander... The project report for Meld Recombination contains a reference to "redacted data stores created in the 1960s". (thats the bureau)

I think it makes sense,but what if the comander still with XCom because the process of converting him isn't complete?

One tiny detail is that when you face the Avatars in xcom 2 they have a projection of an Ethereal behind them, and it has a blue hue, like Asaru, not a yellow, or orange one that the opposing ethereal has. Whats up with that?

So in the XCOM archives you can find in the Commanders quarters you actually get a backstory on how the Chosen became the Chosen. And in those processes it seems like the Elders knew exactly what to do. So I’m thinking that the Elders vision for humanity is to see them all become “Chosen” so that they can fight off the threat that the Elders are running from. Either that or the Elders have guided human advancement and have sacrificed themselves so the humanity as a whole could reach its full potential. That would be an awesome twist: the Elders are actually kind of the good guys.

To find an answer, I think we would have to know exactly what are Ethereals, and how they are made. I think, that they are some kind of psi ghosts. If I remember well, than the Ethereals have already "processed" many life forms they came across. Maybe from all those each has been made. Maybe each ethereal is the risen, overpowered psi of a sentient race. However they had missing parts, or their vessels are just not good enough, in what point a human hybrid comes in the picture.

See the one thing that can discredit the fact the commander was the special soldier at the end of the first xcom is that the cutscene in the beginning of the game in number 2 shows him getting knocked out by a muton and not only that but they state that they lost him on that day of the attack not before hand when the ship was destroyed but everything else seems liable just different therefore he cpuldnt of been captured at the explosion of the end at the ship.

I always think that they were turning the commander into a new chosen, that would make more sense to me

Another good theory that is worth exploring is that the ethereals seens to be fighting a war of their own in somewere far from earth... In both xcom EU and 2, they imply a powerful force that humanity is yet "not prepared" to deal with.

My one argument against the idea of the volunteer in EU/EW being the commander in XCOM 2 is that in one of the earliest scenes in XCOM 2 it clearly shows in one of the flashbacks that the commander was standing in the control room in the original XCOM base, until the aliens charged in and the muton knocked him out, no other people other than the commander and the one working in the control room were present in that backflash, remember that the volunteer was still just a soldier and probably didn't have the clearance to enter the control room.

When you where teleported fiu were sent in an paralel universe but the elder remember what happened and know what you can do so...

Either they changed the final mission dialog in War of the Chosen, or my game bugged, because I don't remember the Ethereals talking like that on the mission... That said, it is heavily implied that Geist, leader of the Templars, is the volunteer from Enemy Unknown. I believe it was also stated that Bureau wasn't canon withe other games, and loss in Enemy Unknown was actually in fact canon? I could be wrong, but I believe those were specified.

if the commander in xcom 2 is the gifted soldier that went into the gallop chamber in xcom enemy unknown, then what happened to the original commander from eu? The aliens would have to capture that original commander from eu, then xcom rescues the gifted soldier from eu at the beginning of xcom 2, but wouldn't bradford recognize that this is not the same commander as in eu, that it's actually the gifted soldier that went into the gallop chamber?

it could a plan for a third game when the xcom wins but the commander take the power with the aliens and then you need to fight against the commander, the aliens and the humans

I think your theory is 100% correct. It just made sense to me. As for my character, it might sound lazy but he's a straight-up Magus psi-soldier with silver hair and eyes. Also his weapon has a superior scope and superior repeater equipped.

Technicly speaking as The Burreau in non-cannon. Firaxis states that any game not made by them is not cannon. And the Burreau was made by someone else, even if working off skeletal scraps from Friaxis leftovers. I wish it actually was cannon because it would mean that my theory of Sectopods beeing actually sectoid tech is true. In The Burreau they are piloted by Sectoids who would be later taken over by the Ethereals and the sectopod platform later is developed into fully mechanical constructs - propably by sectoids who take care of all alien tech in Enemy Within. In XCOM the robots are still called Sectopods because it was assumed there was a Sectoid inside but there are people who belive said Sectopods aren't sectoid in orgin, so the name is taken by the random assumption, not remembering that the whole machine just screams Sectoid Design!!!

Some people are wondering if the ethereals were trying to create the perfect soldier to protect against an even greater threat. If this were the case, who-or what, would be the threat the ethereals are at war with? The only thing that comes to mind are the micronoids, but supposedly, the micronoids were unaware of Earth until the sectoids entered their dimension, who were fought, enslaved and interrogated. Anyone have any other ideas?

Note about the volunteer not dying - It can be implied that they didn't die because there never was a volunteer. The war ended well before XCOM reached that point, and it's implied during XCOM 2 that all of your games of Enemy Unknown/Within were war games. So while this is a fun theory - the idea that the Commander of XCOM 2 is the Volunteer of Enemy Unknown/Within is a pretty big stretch. Asaru being involved is a cool idea though.

I know I'm late but what actually happened is that the commander was actually captured in the first base raid and the whole Xcom enemy within was actually one of the hallucinations where the Elders used the commander to wipe out the actual Xcom which at the time was Exalt.

So there is an immediate issue... correct me if I'm wrong here... but we are *shown* Xcom being raided, the original commander from 1 being captured, then said commander is saved and by how you're treated by Bradford you are the same commander, not the volunteer.

Finally someone warns me there's xcom 2 spoilers! I didn't play it yet and I keep on having to just realize that the video will have spoilers and quickly close it

I read this in some of the comments below and agree, but have a little different view. I think we(the player) are Asaru. The commander in xcom 2 is just a the same as the commander from EU?EW, that's why Bradford knows the commander. maybe everything in EU/EW is canon up until just before you learn laser tech, you fail and get the commander captured because they know the commander has Asaru connected to him and installed the chip to sever the connection to try in instill their own sentience in the vessel. While the Commander hibernates Asura shows him a vision of what things could have happened if humans were left to fight, the coma dream(everything that you do in EU/EW after laser tech) shows that the Commander will bind psionics to humans and discover the gollub(?) chamber, the vision shows the commander has Asura(Us the player)been inside him/her helping them along the way(The reason the game is turn based is because of Asura power) When the chip is pulled from the commander's neck Asura flashed back and we the player are allowed to assume the role of Commander of Xcom again and play the game. That's just a theory, a Game theory!!!

Asaro or however you spell it might have been the first ethereal born in a long time, which is why the aliens take the loss of an ethereal so badly in the second game, they are running out of people

The Lost elder was probably on earth for a long time. This elder’s mission had something to do with eventually evolving humans to be powerful psychics and tough survivors. The idea probably here is: The elders age the more they use their powers BUT humans just get stronger and stronger. (Like Akira) All this is because there is an entity that is following the elders and all psychic sensitive creatures. Doing who knows what too them. It has something to do with a ship or entity called T'Leth. That is why the end of Xcom 2 showed something coming out of the seabed? The lost Elder wants to use humans to fight the Thing that’s following them. The others want to sacrifice the humans so they can be spared.

I believe that they are a commander, and the same ethereal from the bureau, that's what the let's play archive has taught me.

the video is old, but with the WoTC out i'm pretty sure the Commander is a Chosen one, as there was 4 spaces for the Chosen and most of the Chosen say to the Commander to come back and thing about if he comes back the world will be his world

This xcom2 commander is the volunteer can't be right. Everyone clearly says that you're the commander aka the guy who led xcom during the first invasion not a random soldier.

Guys... You guys are forgetting the first end line of the elders in the ending: "betrayer!!!!"

Speaking of endings, Doesn't anyone think that if XCOM 3 is a thing, it could continue off by having a all out war between ADVENT and the Resistance? I feel like that would be an interesting concept for a future title

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who put together there own lil story connecting all the games. Me and yours are about the same with a few differences. Thanks for helping to reinforce my belief in my own story Iv made up for my sanity. I don't like the fact the first game and The Bureau are no longer canon when they could easily fit into the time frame and lore of XCOM 2. Regardless of what Firaxis says I have connected things like you and believe that is the story of the XCOM reboot series.,

the uber ethereal in x-com one pretty much states that most of their people ascended into being of pure psyonic power but that the ethereal as we know them failed to do so and were looking for a path to complete this shift. in x-com 2 though the elders are trying to effectively run from something hunting them while trying to fix their body degeneration only then will they be strong enough to win against "that which follows" so that Asaru dude could be a ethereal who completed their transition and is aiding the aliens his fallen people are using

It is impossible that the survivor from enemy unknown is the commander as the second game is based on the second branch This is to say that it simply says that you lost in enemy unknown and you never unlocked the psionic unit

I always thought that the reason that XCOM lost the first war was that the first part of the invasion was a test to use stress to bring out a human with the willpower enough to become a vessel for an Ethereal, they used weaker forces but once they saw that they were actually losing battles(probably even key battles that were pushing the aliens back despite a lower technology) they raided the XCOM BASE and took the commander at once. The commander was then used as the commander of the alien forces by putting him in the pod(like in XCOM 2), and they easily won enough that it wasn't necessary to kill any more people--reducing casualties as a result. For 20 years, it was the Commander that was slowing the results of the aliens by purposefully leaving gaps where resistance fighters and remnants of XCOM could exist. ----- XCOM Enemey Unknown was just the advanced alien simulation that infinitely produced random invasion scenarios to sharpen the mind of the commander further through wins and loses(mostly loses). No one actually won the war, we were just playing that simulation this whole time, even Enemy Within was just an addition to the simulation.

When the Etherial says that the commander defeated the Earth forces before it is not that he/she is an Etherial. It is, as Tygan explained before, the Etherials were using the commander as a super computer to boost the Advent tactics. When xcom2 was announced the cannon became that Earth lost the initial invasion, xcom eu.

You're proposing the volunteer ascended, went back in time in the form of asaru, engineered the failure of xcom in an alternate timeline, and aided the commander and resistance in completing the avatar project?

Commander had been captured in base invade mission of XCOM , so there're no the volunteer.

can I add that xcom2 doesn't take place where u won against the aliens in xcom enemy unknown instead it's when u lose and the council give in and hand over control

My thought on this is that XCOM:EU/EW was just a simulation by the ethereal. One that ensures that the commander will be able to win depending on the difficulty settings. The higher the setting (I believe it's Commander?) The harder the commander was made to run through the ethereal simulation. But the gameplay in XCOM:EU/EW could also easily reflect the situation in the real world. When you research the chip in the commander's Cerebal Cortex, the research found that the Commander was being used against the Resistant. So that's another theory.I won't touch on whether the Commander is the Volunteer. But it's still an interesting concept/theory...Good luck, Commander

definitely some neat stuff. There are some things that I agree with, but that I also don't. FIRST: The volunteer CANNOT BE the commander. It is possible to recruit a new soldier, level him up, and then make him the volunteer. Via logic, that means that he can't be the commander because he wasn't present from the start of the game as the commander was. The commander of XCOM 2 could be a different commander, and then this makes sense, but I'm pretty sure this isn't the case, it just doesn't carry and weight in logic. However, the ideas about asaro (or however you say that) make sense.

But it's just a theory! A GAME THEORY!

Anyway, still waiting for X-com:Flight simulator and X-com 4: Mega-city

In my opinion, the whole plot of XCOM is about how a dying race tries to save themselves from extinction without losing their psionic abilities. XCOM 1 In order to achieve such a goal, they were searching a solution. Seems they got the technology or the power to move into other bodies. Guess the "host" must be a mindless creature, as we learn something similar in XCOM 2. They were traveling planet to planet in purpose to find the proper race. In XCOM 1, we encounter all the failures the Elders found before they reached Earth. All of the aliens have surrendered and let themselves to be guided/controlled by the Elders. I think, they did not want to destroy Earth. Since they need the body of a human to live in. The vision that the Volunteer sees before the final assault is an invitation into a trap from the Elders. And the well-trained PSI soldier went to the ship. During the XCOM 1 final assault, we learn that why all of the Alien races are a huge failure. Everyone of them has a big drawback. However, they speak only nice words about the human race. Physically great, smart creatures and even can use the "gift". The Volunteer get captured, even when it seems they died. Guess the poor devil just became the subject of plenty of experiments. The Volunteer cannot be the commander. Since it is obvious that everyone wants the "old" commander back in XCOM 2. Central Officer John Bradford even recognizes the commander in XCOM 2. XCOM 2 After the Elders have seen that, the human kind is worthy to be experimented with, they began the real assault and conquered Earth. There was no chance to resist. (Why would a dying race waste a lot of time and effort to a race which does not worth it? Their time is limited.) The commander got captured during the alien invasion and then was used to lead the ADVENT via the network. The Elders knew that who led the army of Earth against them, so they used such a brilliant mind to beat the resistance of Earth. The old aliens are back and all of them possess something very similar. Augmentation via human DNA. Most likely the Elders promised evolution to them for their loyalty. And so they got it. As we learnt in XCOM 1 how wonderful the human race is, the Elders started the Avatar project to make mindless bodies they could move into, leaving their decaying ones. However, it needed experiments which came with plenty of human deaths. As the commander was a prisoner for long with active brain activity, the Elders found out that, the commander is also gifted. And thanks to the years of imprisonment, their psionic level overgrown the soldiers' they control in XCOM 2.This is why the commander is able to survive the PSI connection with the Avatar body at the final assault in XCOM 2. The Elders and the Chosen mention a lot of time that, they want the commander back to their rightful place. Most likely the Elders wanted someone that strategically talented (and gifted) by their side and planned to give the commander an own Avatar. I'm unsure, but the Ethereal which encourages could be the Volunteer. Or the thing which they became after being captured. It is highly just a thought.

This vid + that thread on Reddit ( www.reddit.com/r/Xcom/comments/4kp8t7/spoilers_xcom_2s_ending_explained/ ) -- now I'm quite certain, hell, I BELIEVE that Asaru _was_ the commander! Or, if we consider the lore in "The Bureau", Asaru HAD bonded -- in a mutual way -- with the commander! "The Bureau" was even quite explicit why Asaru did what he had done: He was BORN on Earth, he considered Earth his Homeworld, and he will FIGHT tooth and nail to defend his (adopted) Homeworld. And give Humanity a chance. (Kinda reminds me of Peter Quill / Star Lord in GotG when asked, why he wanted to save the galaxy: "Because I'm one of the idiots who live in it!" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FoyKhbhhWRw.html )

Maybe the Commander is only have psi-skills from EU too, and if he wanted, he could became The Volunteer by himself?

would be great to see the terror of the deep expansion come in to play especially after that chrsyallid whale mission