Mikhail

Mikhail () is a character in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Torna ~ The Golden Country. He is the sole survivor of the attack on Porton Village and was adopted by Lora and . He later became a member of the organization and Cressidus's Driver.
==Appearance and personality==
Mikhail is a handsome man about 190 cm (6'3") tall, with blond hair swept back with a thin fringe falling on the right side of his face, and blue eyes. As a child, Mikhail wears a red and black coat, with black pants and boots.
As an adult, Mikhail wears a red and black armored bodysuit with gold decorations with similar shapes to Jin and Malos.
As a child, Mikhail is cold, shy, and quiet, only slightly opening up to Milton and Lora, and is easily frightened by Mythra and Jin. He rarely speaks, and Milton is the only one able to read his emotions.
As an adult, Mikhail is the most flamboyant and playful of the Torna members, almost theatrical at times, often flirting with Patroka, much to her dismay. He enjoys the presence of women in general, sometimes stopping to admire their beauty. Despite his light behavior, he has a broad outlook and can be serious when the situation demands it. He is a skilled engineer, in charge of preparing Torna's weapons and vessels for carrying out their plans. He doesn't truly care for his own survival, talking lightly about the idea of his own death. Despite his hatred for Alrest and mankind, he is the most hesitant member of Torna (after Nia) about their goals.
==Story arc==
===Xenoblade Chronicles 2===
Mikhail is first heard of as Akhos reports to Malos upon his return from the Ancient Ship with Jin and Sever. Akhos informs them that Mikhail is inspecting the Old Factory. It is where he is later first encountered, as he and Patroka just finished recovering ether furnaces they bought from . The two of them interrupt Rex as he is putting an end to Bana's production of artificial Blades, claiming that the Nopon is still of use to them. Mikhail then goes on a flamboyant speech about being graced by the presence of the Aegis until Patroka cuts him off, hitting him in the face and asking him to shut up. She declares their mission is to kill Nia and retrieve the Aegis. Mikhail joins her in battle alongside his , Cressidus, taking up the role of Defender while Patroka and Perdido lead the attacks. The tide of battle turns against them as Mòrag and Brighid join the fight. The two of them help Rex and Pyra corner the members of Torna, allowing Mythra to strike a precise blow with Siren and kill Cressidus and Perdido. Mikhail is entranced by Mythra's beauty as she rises through the air before she strikes.
The death of Perdido enrages Patroka, who begins to radiate strange power as Mikhail helplessly tries to bring her back to reason. Mikhail rushes to her side as she suddenly falls to her knees, incapacitated by the restrictive power of Fan la Norne as she walks up to them. Recognizing the one he once knew as "Haze", Mikhail curses and orders a retreat, slowly standing up to stare at the newcomer while Patroka tries to protest. Reminding her that they already got the ether furnaces they came to gather, Mikhail picks her up to take her away. His gaze lingers on Fan la Norne as Patroka flails around with anger under his arm, until he finally turns away and runs to the . He salutes the party with a wink and a hand gesture reminiscent of the one Malos used at Mythra in Auresco as the ship sails into the Cloud Sea, firing once at Mòrag to stop her from following them on board.
Mikhail can then be spotted as a child in a flashback, following Jin around while Haze trains with Lora against Addam and Mythra.
As Mikhail and Patroka reunite with the rest of Torna on the Marsanes, Mikhail reports to the others the events that went down in Mor Ardain, and tells Jin about the Blade who intervened being Haze. Jin doesn't respond, looking away for a moment before asking Mikhail about his work on the Marsanes. Mikhail informs him that it will take a little longer than he thought, but he is getting close. Jin then orders Mikhail to keep working on it and get help from the others, while Jin himself goes to Temperantia alone.
===Torna ~ The Golden Country===
Mikhail is first encountered as a child standing alone in the smoldering ruins of Porton Village. Lora and Jin approach him, inquiring about what happened to this village to leave the boy as the seemingly only survivor. Mikhail stays silent as Lora attempts to reassure him and offers him to come with her and Jin, only nodding once when Jin asks the boy if he can walk. Jin pats his head and guides him out of the destroyed village. Away from the ruins, Lora resumes questioning the boy about his family in an attempt to assert whether they should be looking for other potential survivors or not. Avoiding her gaze, Mikhail finally speaks up to give her his name, and explains that he doesn't have a family because he was sold to Porton Village from Estham. In response, Lora declares that from now on, she and Jin will be his new family, to which Mikhail bluntly retorts that the two of them are strangers and don't have to pretend to care. Mikhail then closes up again as Lora offers to start as friends instead of family, and only glances up to look as Jin as Lora calls his name for the first time in the boy's presence.
Later, as the three of them set up camp for the night, Mikhail expresses surprise at the fact that Jin, whom he has identified as a Blade, is doing the cooking. The surprise doesn't stop him from eating with appetite. After dinner, the boy falls asleep near the fire.
The next day, Mikhail accompanies Lora and Jin on their travel, until they reach Feltley Village. However, this village was destroyed too, this time replaced by a black crater. While Lora and Jin investigate, a attacks them, and Mikhail runs away to hide. He stays hidden during the combat against the Gargoyle and the following confrontation with Addam and Mythra, watching from his hiding spot as Haze and Milton arrive too. The two groups decide to camp together, sharing their stories over a meal, during which Milton gives Mikhail a bowl of food, exhorting him to eat before it gets cold. After eating, Milton keeps talking to Mikhail, who seems to be around his age.
Mikhail follows the group as they head for Gormott in hopes of finding Lora's mother, only for them to find a third destroyed village in Torigoth, burnt to ashes by bandits. He watches in silence as Jin comforts Lora when they find the grave of her mother. If the party takes a break before heading back for Torigoth itself, Mikhail offers Lora to help decorating the graves.
As they leave the cemetery, the group is mistaken for bandits and surrounded by imperial troops of Mor Ardain. Mikhail runs for cover with Milton as a fight break out, and witness Mythra's display of power against Brighid. The fight is interrupted by the arrival of Hugo, the Emperor of Mor Ardain, who turns out to be Addam's old acquaintance. Mikhail follows the group as they head for Hugo's flagship, and he settles in a corner to chat with Milton while the Drivers and Blades discuss politics.
Later, he accompanies the party as they go look for a lost Gormotti child, Kelly. During the search, he argues with Milton over each other's courage. The two of them end up being reprimanded by Haze for their squabbling. Once the child is found and brought back to her brother, they all settle once more on Hugo's flagship, which Mikhail comments in awe to be a "cool ship".
He then climbs aboard a smaller, non-militarized ship to follow the party to Addam's homeland of Aletta, on the borders of the Tornan Titan. There, they discover food is running a little low, and decide to help replenish the food supplies. Once the ingredients are gathered, Mikhail and Milton offer to take over cooking duty for the day. With Addam's approval, they rush for the kitchen. Mikhail starts expertfully chopping vegetables, earning Milton's praise on his skills. He brushes it off, claiming anyone could do it, then proceeds to chop an impressive stack of vegetables in mere minutes. Tornan bowls are clearly too small to match his veggies-chopping skills.
The next day, he shares a meal prepared by Jin with Addam, Mythra, Lora, and Haze after the four of them are done training. Mikhail is helping Jin by carrying away the empty cooking pot when a Tornan soldier arrives running, bringing news of Malos's next target: the capital of Torna. As the party prepares to move out, Milton offers Mikhail to stay in Aletta, but the boy chooses to go with them, repeating himself and clinging onto Lora when Addam points out he would be safer in Aletta. Hugo comes to his aid, arguing that there is no guarantee Malos would spare Aletta, and that Mikhail might actually be safer staying with them. Addam eventually accepts to let the boy come with them. Lora asks him one more time if this is truly what he wants, and Mikhail nods, confirming his decision.
On their way to the capital, they are attacked by a . Though Mikhail stays away from the fight with Milton, the beast notices them and leaps toward them. Milton takes Mikhail in his arms to protect him, and Addam rushes to protect the two of them with his own body. The three of them end up being saved by Minoth's intervention.
After a detour back to the Militia Garrison to stock up on medicine to safely cross , the party takes a break at Hyber Village. In the evening, Mikhail sits outside the village's inn with Lora and Milton as they share their respective backstories, bonding over having been separating from their birth family but finding a new one through friendship. Lora attempts to include Mikhail in the discussion by asking for his opinion on found family, but the boy stays silent, his eyes shying away. Milton declares that despite his lack of obvious reaction, Mikhail is smiling on the inside, to which the boy respond by lightly elbowing him. In the morning, Mikhail and Milton play with Benny and other visiting kids.
Mikhail eventually reaches the Tornan capital of Auresco with the rest of the party, and he sits in the corner of the room in Aureus Palace with Milton while the adults report to the Tornan King. He then accompanies the party around until Malos's Gargoyles attack the capital. At Lora's demand, he and Milton stay behind, near the safety of the Aquila Watchtower, until the fight is over. The two of them join with the others again as the party reports once more to the Tornan King, then follow Addam to Torna's Womb to listen to Azurda's explanation on the connection between Blades and Titans. The next day, after a rest at Spefan Inn, he attends Lora's knighting ceremony in front of the Palace.
Malos having announced that he would wait for the party to come to him, Mikhail gets to follow the others around Auresco and Torna a bit longer as they help the people recover from the attack and prepare for what is to come. At some point, he ends up as one of the judges for a cooking contest, chary with compliments for the contestants' dishes. Eventually, the party finds themselves ready to face Malos, but the adults refuse that Mikhail and Milton accompany them. Agreeing with them that two children would be a hindrance in such a fight, Mikhail watches in annoyance as Milton cries of frustration and attempts to convince the adults to allow them to join. Mythra tries to coax the Gormotti into staying to watch over Mikhail, to which the boy reacts by denying the need to be looked after. He is quickly shut down by the Aegis glaring daggers at him. When the party leaves in the morning, Mikhail and Milton run out of the inn to watch them go. Mythra pauses to nod at them, and the children both nod back.
While Mikhail and Milton wait at Spefan Inn, Milton manages to make Mikhail promise to give him a smile if Milton learns embroidery. The Gormotti eventually succeeds thanks to Haze's help, and justifies his determination to Mikhail by explaining to him why it's important to smile despite the bad stuff, or rather specifically because bad stuff happens. He concludes by telling Mikhail he's there with him, ready to help him smile away whatever happens, and then they can both help out other people in turn. They're interrupted by an overenthusiastic Haze before Mikhail gets a chance to react.
While the party finally confronts Malos, Auresco comes under heavy fire from Siren. Mikhail is briefly seen being held by Milton in the street, staring at the blast of an explosion growing toward them while people flee around them. As the blast reaches them, Milton holds Mikhail tighter, shielding him with his own body. The battle between the Aegises keeps destroying Torna, up to the point the Titan starts sinking. The children are evacuated on an Ardanian warship, where Milton agonizes in Mikhail's arms. By the time the surviving members of the party find them, Mikhail is holding a dead body. He stares blankly at Mythra as she approaches Milton, and he craddles his dead friend away from her when she reaches for him, causing her to stumble backward in shock and grief.
The tragedy of the Tornan Titan's fall settled, Mikhail is seen by Jin, Lora and Haze's side as they part ways with Addam on Gormott. At Addam's request, they head for Spessia with a message to deliver to survivors of his militia. On their way, they are woken up in the middle of the night by a monstruous Gort. The monster is slained by Lora and Jin, allowing them to continue with their travels. They eventually find the Tornan refugees in Spessia, just in time to be attacked by the Indoline army and see their lives brutally changed once more.
Mikhail is a Blade Eater who was implanted with a Core Crystal at a young age by Amalthus. His Core Crystal is wedge-shaped. Mikhail's weapon is called the Infinity Fans.
==Lore==
==As a party member==
==As an NPC==
Mikhail can be found at Megaflote Base at the roots of the in the Land of Morytha after Indol sinks under the Cloud Sea, exclusively during . He disappears once he becomes the Blade of a party member and reappears at the same location if he is released. 
After he becomes one of the party's Blades, Mikhail can be found at a random location in Garfont Village after Rex takes over the Merc Group, provided he is not equipped to his Driver or sent on a Merc Mission. The specific locations he may be found at are listed here.
===In Torna ~ The Golden Country===
Mikhail can first be found in the Strategy Room in , after the the party discusses the movements of Addam's militia and until Lora and Addam talk on the flagship's port balcony. During Malos's attack on the capital, he can be found with Milton in Sachsum Gardens in Auresco, Royal Capital of the Kingdom of Torna, near Aquila Watchtower's entrance. Much later, he can be found with Milton on the roof of , after the party sets off for The Soaring Rostrum. During A Small Promise, he can instead be found in the inn's lobby.
====Quests====
*Involved in A Small Promise.
*Involved in Great Tornan Cook-Off.
*Involved in Planning for the Future, if he is not at Spefan Inn.
*Involved in Safety Measures, if he is at Spefan Inn.
*Involved in the Main Story Quest Feeding an Army.
====Dialogue====
=====Strategy Room=====
=====Sachsum Gardens=====
=====During A Small Promise=====
=====After completing A Small Promise=====
==As an enemy==
* Mikhail (Mor Ardain) (part 1)
* Mikhail (Mor Ardain) (part 2)
* Mikhail (Tantal)
* Mikhail (challenge mode)
==Trivia==
* In the English version of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Mikhail is voiced by Todd Kramer, who also voices Roc.
* Despite only being revealed during chapter 6, Mikhail's Core Crystal is visible in battle as soon as chapter 4 due to an enemy model setup error.
* During the flashback of Porton Village in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Mikhail is shown sobbing in the ruins. That detail was changed in Torna ~ The Golden Country, where he stands still in the ruins, breathing in silence.
* There is unused dialogue between Mikhail and Milton during Planning for the Future, which would continue on from the small bit of dialogue the two have if they are in the party during the quest. During the dialogue, Milton teases Mikhail for staring at the newly made Titan ship, then tells him they need to hurry back to the inn before they are found out by Mythra, showing that Mikhail was already interested by engineering at the time.
* Mikhail speaks in a Tornan accent as a child. As an adult, Mikhail speaks in a Blade accent, most likely developed during his time in the organization.
==In other languages==
==References==
==Gallery==
===Xenoblade Chronicles 2===
====Screenshots====
Mikhail faces the party.jpg|Mikhail
Mikhail and frozen Lora.jpg|Mikhail in front of Lora's frozen body
Mikhail and Patroka.jpg|Mikhail and Patroka appear
Mikhail and Cressidus.jpg|Mikhail and Cressidus
Patroka Perdido Mikhail Cressidus.jpg|Patroka, Perdido, Mikhail and Cressidus
Mikhail faces Fan la Norne.jpg|Mikhail stares at Fan la Norne
Mikhail carries Patroka.jpg|Mikhail stares at Fan la Norne as he takes Patroka away
Mikhail carries Patroka to safety.jpg|Mikhail takes Patroka away
Organization Torna Drivers.jpg|Drivers of Torna
Marsanes Mikhail's control room.jpg|Mikhail in the Marsanes control room
Mikhail experimented on.jpg|Mikhail amidst the refugees Amalthus is experimenting on
Mikhail (Mor Ardain) (part 2 - core visible error).jpg|Mikhail's Core Crystal visible during the Old Factory fight
====Concept art====
Mikhail introduction.jpg|Character page in Alrest Record
Mikhail concept art.jpg|Concept art
===Torna ~ The Golden Country===
====Screenshots====
Mikhail in Porton Village.jpg|Mikhail amidst the ruins of Porton Village
Mikhail found.jpeg|Mikhail found by Lora and Jin
Lora Jin Mikhail camping.jpg|Lora, Jin, and Mikhail camping
Lora Jin Mikhail find Feltley.jpg|Lora, Jin, and Mikhail find a Giant Crater in place of Feltley Village
TTGC party makes camp.jpg|The party makes camp near Feltley Village
Milton Mikhail soup.jpeg|Milton handing Mikhail soup
Mikhail cooking.jpg|Mikhail cooking
Party camping in Aletta.jpg|The party camping in Aletta
Slithe Jagron leaps toward Mikhail Milton.jpg|The Slithe Jagron leaps toward Mikhail and Milton
TTGC group photo.JPG|Group photo
Lora Milton Mikhail talking.jpg|Lora, Milton, and Mikhail talking
Milton and Mikhail complain.jpg|Milton and Mikhail complain about being left behind
Party separates in Gormott.jpg|What remains of the party separates in Gormott
===Artwork===
Mikhail TTGC.png|Mikhail as a child in Torna ~ the Golden Country
Category:Characters (XC2)Category:Characters (TTGC)Category:Drivers (XC2)Category:Blades (XC2)Category:NPCs (Gormott) (TTGC)Category:NPCs (Auresco)
it:Mikhail