XCOM Theory - Who are the Chosen? 

The Chosen being the three rescuee from Progeny would undeniably be genius continuity-wise.

They were human The warlock said something in the lines of "to think I used to be human like you, pitiful unworthy creatures" Which blew me away and pretty much confirmed it

God damn it's a missed opportunity to not have some way of making the Hunter our ally. He clearly doesn't give a fuck about the Ethereal lol.

In the XCOM 2 Factions comic, it's confirmed that the Hunter used to be a Reaper. He was captured, mind-probed, modified and turned into whatever he is now, a charming motherfucker that snipes through the map.

In the mission against the Warlock's stronghold, one of the possible lines he can say actually suggests that he used to be a human. I don't remember the exact quote but it's something like, "I can't believe I used to consider myself as one of you."

All 3 of the Chosen and even Elders refer to the fact they were once human.

Before the War of the Chosen DLC, when you find the Furies scanning site, the bodies are still there (you / the investigation team triggers the execution trap, or whatever) If it's been changed, then chances are you're dead right about the chosen being the furies.

I honestly hadn't considered the furies in the Xcom2 timeline. I'd say you're 100% onto something and these soldiers are more than likely the three furies with the story reworked to fit the idea of the Chosen. This would explain how psionically gifted the chosen are and my suspicion is these three candidates would have been the perfect avatar prototypes. After all you don't start a project as immense and globe spanning as the avatar project without first running viability tests! The furies being the template for the future avatar project would to me be an insanely awesome tie in with lore from the last game.

That's a really interesting idea with Progeny

Prety much proven now as the elders say to them after one of them dies that they are feeling emotion and they should 'relinquish their humanity'.

This theory actually makes a lot of sense. It also has a sort of symmetry with the expansion Enemy Within that is simply really cool. Honestly both this and the asaru theory are extremely interesting ideas and could very easily fit into the xcom lore so I hope you're right on this.

I have to agree, you are on to something, but I have a feeling that the sniper is Megaera while the warlock is Alecto.

I remember the progeny story, and yes I know for a fact that the warlock admits he was once a human on the mission you kill him. In fact all those missions really help you understand who they are, since they say so much. Great origin!

Said "Megaera" Tariq and Fatima "Tisiphone" Tariq from xcom EW have the same last name so maybe that's why he said sister

Played XCOM2WotC and Warlock just said something like "I was consider myself as one of your race...but it was long time ago" , at least as I recall it

Yet another Amazing theory, a bit on the shorter end because of the lack of material available to us. I'll keep this theory in mind while playing war of the chosen.

a fascinating theory. I would actually like it to be true, a dark twist on some old friends

Reapers: Hunter Skirmisher: Assassin Templars: Warlock Warlock: Eldest son Hunter: Middle child Assassin: Youngest daughter

Could the furies be the other avatars we face off against in the story

Watching this in 2020 and when you started saying spoilers i was like finished it, finished it

well i recently read through the chosen files. and found some interesting stuff. for one. the warlock is the oldest of the three and was apparently raised and experimented on from a young age. never stated how young though so he might have been one of the furies. the hunter is possibly a former reaper operative. captured and brainwashed into the service of the elders. and the assassin? she's a flash clone who was turned chosen.

Someone asked them in the Q&A if the Furies were the chosen. Jake said no.

When I fought the hunter, he said he used to be human. Or something close to that.

Duuuuuuude. This is so ballzy sound theory man. I really thought it was van doom, zhang, and annette thats the chosens. Man your theory has more ground than high ground

I think Tisiphone or vengeful destruction, applies to the warlock, “FOR EACH CHILD OF THE ELDERS SLAUGHTERED, HUMANITY WILL PAY A TALLY, IN FLESH!!!”

Holly $#!+... what a great theory. Blew the top off my head. Thx for the Video.

The Warlock states that he used to be a human in dialogue

makes sense. I always just assumed they were fully grown avatars. since the avatar autopsy said they were incomplete and have a mask with white hair. the warlock has white hair, and would not be able to blend in with a face like that thus the mask

I think you're right on the money!

The Chosen were human at one point. There's some talk when you invade the Warlock where he states something like "I can't believe I once considered myself part of your race".

Basically the hunter is basically a game hunter, like a human game hunter. The assassin could’ve been a former Xcom member from unknown (actually all of them could because Xcom has all of those) and the warlock could’ve been the “gift” or the first Psionic human

Did you know that originally a 4th faction and chosen was intended to be added but was scrapped due to time constraints. This 4th chosen would have lined up with Annette.

Actually makes more sense

I was wondering who the chosen are *in function*. Are they a paramilitary government agency With their own forces, a rogue Army or are they high ranking officers of the standard peacekeepers?

if you read about the Chosen in the Commander's Archives/Logs (or something like that) there is an entry about every chosen. Yes, they were humans.

In the cutscene after the first Chosen is killed, the Elders say that the Chosen have "Succumbed to the failings of their humanity." Along with the lines that the warlock says during the assault on his hideout, where he pretty much admits to having been human once, I think it's pretty definite, that the Chosen were once human. Them being the Furies is a bit more of a stretch, but I can see the evidence and it is indeed compelling. You very well might be right!

By the way...I think Hunter and Assassin are actually twins, because when I save in that mission women and man have same second name Tariq. I wonder what happend then with Durand, that french woman with psi-powers?

they could very well be avatars but from unseen races that had been already concured

I think that when Commander was captured, the Ethereals made copies of his conscience/cloned him if he were an Ethereal. The consciences/clones were paired/merged with a manufactured "super human". Each conscience/clone was unique: one was psionically gifted and acted like the boss, this became the Warlock; one was angry and rebellious, this became the Hunter; and one was loyal and clear-thinking, this became the Assassin

Now that it's out more information was given in the commanders quarters. Goes into small exerts of their creation. Can't wait till enemy from the deep

Holy shit! I think you're on to something dude!

Some fun observations

Interesting idea, I thought the Chosen are hybrids of many different alien species we've seen. Now what species idk yet sadly

If the Chosen are identical to the Furies is undetermined (but an interesting and fascinating theory). What can be said is that there are strong hints that they actually _are_ mutated/changed humans! During the assault of its base, the Warlock states -"To think that I once counted myself among your race. You seem so pathetically primitive now" [might not have been verbatim but close enough], strongly suggesting that he was human once! (And if he was, the others probably are as well.)

I think the chosen are those psionic prisoners from progeny who had their dna mixed with the elders, thus they're "children" because they carry some of their dna and it would explain why they're so powerful in terms of psionics

The Chosen to me are just humans who are mutated to be great warriors for the Elders. They each have dialouge referencing how they abhor how the Commander for rejecting the gifts thu received.

well this is something. it is a good idea. it dose make since. the classes those got where sniper, assault, and support. and they all where psi troopers.

Makes sense to me.

as much as I love the hunter im sad to say he really is a push over like i really just wanted to let him go at 1 point or i wish their was some special ending where if you din't destroy thier strongholds you sort of saved them or something idk im known in my friend group for bad ideas.

I'm convinced this is true. my only remaining question is what happened to Annette? with the loss of xcom its probable going to be a sad outcome

Facial structures are extremely similar, only the texture and aesthetic features separate them, I think they are clones.

Possible. I can't confirm the classes, but in general it is a possibility. Otherwhise it could have nothing to do with each other. While ... If your theory about Progeny is right, what happened to Annete Durand? A fourth secret Chosen or at least a Dlc-Chosen?

You know, I think you might be on to something. I think that the class correlation could be a bit more than a coincidence. I mean, the Sniper and Hunter are both known for their sniper rifles, the Assault uses shotguns and was succeeded by the Ranger which also uses swords and other melee weapons like the Assassin and since I don't think the aliens would be too keen on any sort of support class (just count all of their units that focus primarily on support) that would leave the person who would later be referred to as the Warlock to focus on their psionic potential. I'm so convinced by this that unless directly told otherwise I'm going to say this is the case

I hope in x com 3 we get psionic soldier that can do what the chosen can do.

The Chosen were each picked from their "sects", and crafted into the Chosen. The Hunter, specifically, was a Reaper that was taken captive on a mission, and then crafted into the Chosen Hunter, in order to take out the Reapers. The Warlock was a Templar, and the Assassin was a Skirmisher. There's a comic book about it.

I once heard a rumor that they intended there to be a Fourth Chosen.

When were you planning on doing the playthrough? Cuz I could make quite a few characters with decent backstories. Is there a limit to how many characters we can create?

Isn't the speaker aka a thin man supposed to be the first non elder alien we speak to

yeah, that makes sense. all of the furies had psi-capabilities though (albeit latent) do the "chosen" all have psi powers?

Alright, sounds good. My idea is their the children of the Commander.

I thinck they do tell You they we're humans, i remenber a line of dialogue some of them have that pretty much tell You they we're like you, humans

my guess is that they're willing human collaborates who were imbued with Elder DNA

Not shure If you still read the new comments Here but thats a really Genius Idea i never thinked of that But it would make sense sinse the people Like Annette from enemy within also have strong Psi powers

Or the chooses are the "Avatar" projects of another species. there are three of them because the rest of the population were processed just like how the Aliens were processing humans to create our versions of the "chosen".

What I always imagined, is that the Chosen are not chosen by the Ethereals, but they themselves made a choice. Members of a race so powerful and violent the Ethereals never could subdue, but who were destroyed so no one could oppose the Ethereals. The Chosen are simply powerful members who chose to join the Ethereals for their own reasons before the choice of annihilation was made. They wanted power, and did not care of their people, so they do not complain. There may be others, but these three are also chosen, once Earth is fully taken, one of them is allowed to rule Earth, if they succeed. But only the strongest may do so, and they have to survive battles, and in the end, kill each others. Obviously not supported by the clues given by the game, but I liked my version a lot too.

One extra thing to keep in mind -- all three are guaranteed to have great psionic potential once you have the psi lab, pretty much locking in the Support as a likely warlock of sorts. Your theory seems overwhelmingly likely to be true to me because the Chosen fit the male-male-female setup. And as you said, their classes fit closely. One more thing to keep in mind is that XCOM 2 did actively choose to draw attention to the Furies. It would've been no big deal if there was no scannable event giving some foreshadowing or closure. After all, we don't find out what happens to Zhang or other loose ends, but they chose to keep the Furies in our minds still. If it pans out this way, it will definitely make going back to play EW very interesting if you recruit this trio.

i thought that the Chosen were simply hybrids with ethereal dna. kinda like how all the rest of the enemies in the game have been using human dna to even be made in the first place/enhanced. i mean they kinda look like them from the previous game, just with mouths, and only one set of arms.

They are ethereals's children

I think they might be human once that the elders deemed worthy of their power. Kinda like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse but there are only three. Why? Because I think the Commander is the supposed to be the fourth chosen but was rescued by xcom and they are willing to use any means necessary to retrieve the commander. And at some point in the game the hunter will say "I gave up my humanity for this..." so I guess they might be willing or something? Idunno. That's just what I think

Interesting theory which makes a lot of sense. Except one flaw...at 2:47 Warlock says "They called upon us ONCE MORE". Since they haven't been in a battle over the Earth before, it must mean that they fought a war somewhere else, presumably on one of the planets Elders conquered before arriving to the Earth. If that so, Chosen are made from one of the other races, not human.

I think the chosen we're built from the ground up by the ethereal genetic engineering, which is why there are only three. They were made with a mix of all sorts of dna

It definitely sounds like it connects. So, the assassin is...Antoinette?

They used to be human. When you kill the assassin, the elders tell the other chosen "you succumb to the failings of your humanity" its pretty blatant.

the jig is up he got it

Well, we know that the Ethereals travelled from world to world... We have no idea how many they have travelled to. How many enemies do they still have in other galaxies or whatnot. How many races have they actually purged, and how many races still fight back alive and well.... Are there any other empires out there with massive ships that fight toe to toe with the Ethereals. Its such a vast universe with great potential.

If you read the XCOM archives files about the chosen, I think it preety much confirms the fact they used to be human.

It would have been awesome if Annette durand appeared as a Hero/Special soldier in this DLC tying to free her friends from the elders... Annette part of that DLC in Enemy within right?

Plausible, but I feel that the Warlock and Assassin wouldn't profess to be so willing to serve the elders if they had memories of being human. Also they have a distinct age difference between the warlock and the others, which conflicts with the furies being roughly the same age. Ultimately,they are creations of the ethereals, im not sure if fireaxis needs to explain/ add story to them anymore than that.

PS: can I just give you a name and a bio or something to get a character in the game? I'm not sure how to upload a file of a character to give you.

Sounds very convincing.

I had the same theory HAHAHAHA there behavior was to human the way they argue. I also have the crazy theory that ethereal are human for either the future or another timeline,

What if Vallhen helped create the Chosen? We do know that she has a thing for messing with aliens in batches of 3. Lol

One question why does the warlock turn to stone when he permanently dies when the others just die and leave a normal dead body

My theory is the chosen are lesser beings from the home planet as the ethereals. The entire species was wiped out by the ethereals, except for these few who pledged allegiance to the ethereals. When they say "greatest creation" it's genetic modification. Kinda fits with their purple skin. Though yours is pretty damn good and canonically accurate, this time lol.

besides the chosen warlock dropping alot of hints to them once being human, there is also (Spoiler) when one of them dies and gets mourned at the elders, the ethereal gets angry, saying the interesting line "you have succumbed to the failings of your humanity, you squander our gift to you" with another interesting line "what was given can be taken away" implying the ethereals might've been able to turn the chosen back into weak humans, taking away all their powers

I had the same idea about them being the three people from Progeny a couple of days ago. It certainly fits, however i'm not so sure about the personalities lining up. The Assassin seems to be angry all the time, so she would match closer with Alecto. beyond that though, I can't really tell. She doesn't seem to have an opinion on the Elders like her brothers, but on a livestream either Jake Solomon or Garth DeAngelis mentioned that she was very honorable (which is ironic considering she's an ASSASSIN.) The Warlock and Hunter don't strike me as fitting into any of the three personalities described. The Warlock is definitely not jealous, nor does he seem angry, until the Elder's power is questioned. The most noticeable things about him are his loyalty and his arrogance. He believes the Elders are Gods, and so he considers himself a God as well, as they call him and his siblings their Children. The Hunter, on the other hand, seems rebellious. He's the first to make a threat against his siblings, and when the Warlock attempts to pacify the situation he fires back with a quip about the Elders, knowing it would make his brother angry. He then has the balls to outright disrespect the Elder TO HER FACE (in a hologram, but still, her face). Maybe he hates them all for some reason, maybe he just knows they won't kill him after all the effort he went through to create him, or maybe hes just an asshole. Their personalities don't really line up with the Furies as you described, however I do believe that if they aren't the genetically modified Furies from EW, then the Furies were at least a part of the process to making the Chosen as they are today.

I still have questions about vipers that have yet to be answered. Like, if they were thin men why cant they leap like thin men, Why is their plasma rifle weaker?(no plus 10 aim bonus like the LPR) and most importantly if they are reptiles why do they have boobs? Im pretty sure boobage is a mammalian species exclusive. Do a theory on vipers we need to know this is the most pressing of issues

It makes sense if the chosen were humans because the ethereals are constantly saying,”your humanity” and would make sense for why the hunter is rebellious he knows he was a human, he doesn’t have the same respect for the ethereals because they mutated him into what he is

I didn't agree with the ethereal video but this one seems spot on.

Good theory, the only problem I can really see is it seems like the Chosen have a lot of history, more than could be fit into the years between XCOM EU/EW and XCOM 2.

The Vipers/snakemen joined with the Ethereals willingly as well, so there is precedent for aliens joining the Ethereals willingly. II think the Vipers/Snakemen surrendered very quickly when the Ethereals arrived. That, coupled with their lack of psionic power, led to the Ethereals listing them as a failed race and moving on again. Its why the Vipers/Snakemen were unsuitable.

Love it ^.^

I'd always liked the theory that Annette and the Furies were the four Avatars you see throughout the game, but it looks like I'm going to have to switch up. The sex/class lineup is just too much to be a coincidence.

a little theory of my own is that they are suoersoldiers made with ethereal dna and that makes them that powerfull, but also too much expensive to mass products, so the elders themselfs treat them like their descendant and raise them like so, i actually think that they are old, like nearly as ancient as THE elders civ but cause they ARE weapons elite supersoldiers the only way the know yo show emotion is to kill, the hunter may show a little more inividuality cause is ststed that he has lived among humans for a while

seems pretty solid except for how they speak about being woken up. they talk about it like its happened before. and many years in the past. like they've been called apon to deal with some other planets race or something. idk. something to think about. beut everything you said seems to add up aswell

i actually like this Theory

The elder say: you have walked under the humans for too long. After u Kill tue first chosen

Unfortunately I don't think they are three mutated humans. If you watch the whole cutscene the warlock states the ethereals need them "again" meaning they have been used before. That is revealed to have been the capture of the X-com commander during the base assault (the ethereal states that was their job and they succeeded).This means they were around since the start of the initial invasion they just didn't need to reveal themselves. Bear in mind that although the genetic manipulation of the ethereals might be advanced I doubt they could have done it in a few months (which is how long it took for X-com to fall initially).

Great theory you might be on to something

that they are the 3 from the xcom 1 dlc sounds really good. still i don't think they are just humans that are mutated a little. they seem way to differrent. i would rather say they are prototypes of the creations they want to create all their knowledge put into one new species, and as many prototypes they also have some flaws. beeing emotional. one of humans best strengths/flaws. and since they are in a war. why not use them as weapons? after all the aliens are not stupid.