MysticSlayer said:
Hawki said:
(Seriously, what does Earth actually add to Zanza's character that couldn't be accomodated for him being a god from the outset?)
For starters, it sort of reflects where Shulk is at towards the end. His world is dying (similar to Earth), and he is the only one left with a Monado, essentially giving him the power of a god. He's shown that he isn't the first to be in that position: Zanza had been given the opportunity to destroy Earth and recreate a new world to serve him as a god, similar to the decision Shulk has at the end. Meyneth, despite having been highly benevolent as a god, argued against such a decision and even tried to stop Zanza. Shulk basically is given the choice to follow Zanza's path or accomplish what Meyneth tried to do from the beginning: Leave everyone in a world without gods. Sure, he could go on to follow Meyneth as a benevolent god, but that wouldn't have been what she wanted.
There's also probably a lot of Nietzsche philosophy involved if you dissect the dialogue, but I'm not familiar enough to do that. Regardless, I found the ending to deal more with Shulk than Zanza. It also has quite a bit to do with Meyneth, and it is where we finally get answers to some of the questions regarding who Alvis is.
You're right about Nietzsche, but I'll get to that in a bit.
First of all, Shulk's world is dying (theoretically, aside from the telethia, we only really have Alvis's word on it, and it's likened more to stagnation than anything else), but how is that similar to Earth? Earth and its universe were destroyed by Klaus's curiosity/carelessness - there's nothing to suggest that it was in a bad state. My point is, if we cut out the Earth bit, Zanza would still be the same character with the same motivations. And it feels out of place because despite the presence of a lot of elements that feel more akin to our world or sci-fi (e.g. the telethia gene being outright referred to as a gene), Xenoblade is still obstensibly fantasy. Tying in to our world with real-world science (sort of) in the mix just feels like a twist for the sake of a twist. Why was it that only Klaus and Meyneth became gods? How did Alvis? What about the other people on the research station? How does one build a device capable of consuming an entire universe? In fantasy you can wave these questions away, in sci-fi, not so much. Klaus and Meyneth are at least closest to the activation trigger, and Alvis has the benefit of being an AI, but...yeah.
Making Zanza mortal once does allow for one thing that struck me in the end of the game, namely the question of whether Zanza really believes what he's spewing out, or if he feels compelled to? I ask because as I mentioned, Zanza just won't...stop...talking...(about being a god), but I did consider that maybe he's playing it up. He does express an emotion such as loneliness, which is a human trait, so when he's acting all high and mighty to the point of aggravation, is he playing a role? Or is he that far gone? But either way, even with Zanza being mortal once, you could have got away without dragging Earth into it.
Back to Nietzsche - there's something arguably Nietzsche about the situation, if one harkens to the phrase "God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him." That said, it's not a concept limited to Nietzsche - "killing god" isn't that uncommon in JRPGs (Final Fantasy VI and X come to mind), and it's a concept that probably has its roots more in Asian culture than Western philosophy. I've heard that Zanza and/or the scenario around him is based around a particular Asian philosophy or religion, but I forget the name for it. Granted, you can find analogues in Western games - Diablo, StarCraft, and Warcraft all deal with the idea of higher beings have to die/step aside so that mortals can come into their own. But even then, JRPGs remain the butt of the joke. Even Golden Sun, which doesn't end with you killing God, still involves a confrontation with Weyard's highest power, and a final battle that determines (in said god's eyes) that mankind has matured enough to have alchemy return to the world.