Blade Eater

Blade Eaters are a type of human in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Torna ~ The Golden Country. They are the result of humans being implanted with a Core Crystal (in part or in whole) via what Zeke calls a "surgical procedure", the opposite of a Flesh Eater, transforming them into a being that is both human and . The procedure is a secret developed and known only to the Indoline Praetorium.
==Appearance==
Blade Eaters are simply humans with a Core Crystal, so they can have a wide variety of appearances. In the case of being implanted with a full Core Crystal, it appears with a unique shape much like a Rare Blade, while being implanted with part of a crystal provides them with simply that part.
==Characteristics==
Few Blade Eaters are seen throughout the story, and they show very different sets of characteristics, so there is little in the way of generalizations to be made. It is plausible that the exact nature of each's creation causes differing results.
Zeke is a Blade Eater provided with half of his Blade Pandoria's Core Crystal, done in order to save his life. Zeke received a triangular slice of the right side and center, surrounded by radial scarring, with Pandoria keeping the two left corners. Being a Blade Eater gives Zeke superhuman attributes, such as the ability to survive falls and impacts that would surely kill a normal person, and lightning-quick speed that impresses even . Zeke also develops an unnatural synergy with Pandoria, with the two frequently mimicking each other's motions and poses. It is unclear whether Zeke's modification to Pandoria's weapon, adding a blade to turn it from a wand into a greatsword, is a related ability.
Mikhail is a Blade Eater presumably created late during the experimentation process, as his Blade abilities are very well-developed with no apparent harm to his human condition. Implanted with a full Core Crystal, he has a blue fan shape on his chest and can summon a pair of dark-element war fans. He also inherits a long lifespan, though as the procedure was done as a child, it's unknown whether he has been aging slowly for many years, or he aged to adulthood and then stopped. Being so successful as a Blade, Mikhail is first confused for a Flesh Eater like his compatriots, though there is no hint of blood color in his core or weapons.
Amalthus is a Blade Eater who has the bottom half of Haze's Core Crystal implanted in his forehead. This allows him to use Haze's power of weakening Blades and Titans. As the Indoline species is naturally long-lived, it's hard to quantify how much being a Blade Eater has extended his life, with Mythra only being slightly suspicious about it. As a result of taking half of Haze's core, when Haze is killed, her body remains instead of returning to her crystal. Later, he would implant himself with dozens of Core Crystals as Indol sank, growing enormous in size, and partly monstrous in appearance, not wholly unlike Gort or the Guldo, gaining six prehensile tentacles sprouting from his back. During his final attack on the World Tree, he tears out and directly absorbs both Akhos and Patroka's cores, unlike the usual, surgical procedure of Blade Eater creation. He would even attempt to steal 's core, but failed.
Gort is one of the first Blade Eaters, experimented on by Stannif. As part of the experiment, his body was also mutated into a strange beast, so it is difficult to tell how much of the Blade Eater part was a success. He demonstrates no special powers, though the one time he was seen he was not necessarily in the right frame of mind to attempt so.
==Story==
==As enemies==
The four Blade Eaters listed above are each fought as enemies. Their internal properties as enemies are notably inconsistent.
* Zeke is fought in four instances. In each case, he is considered to be of the Humanoid family and the Driver genus:
** Zeke (Uraya)
** Zeke (Mor Ardain)
** Zeke (Leftheria)
** Zeke (First Low Orbit Station)
* Mikhail is also fought in four instances. In three, corresponding to the fights in which he is Cressidus' Driver, he is a humanoid of the genus. When he is fought in Tantal, his genus is undefined.
** Mikhail (Mor Ardain) (part 1)
** Mikhail (Mor Ardain) (part 2)
** Mikhail (Tantal)
** Mikhail (challenge mode)
* Amalthus is fought once. He is internally considered to be a Blade of the Indoline genus.
** Amalthus (boss)
* Gort is fought as a Blade Eater once, and is the only Blade Eater enemy in Torna ~ The Golden Country. He is considered to be of the Beast family, with undefined genus.
** Gort (ending)
==See also==
*Flesh Eaters, Blades that have been infused with human cells.
==In Xenoblade Chronicles 3==
Taion is confirmed to have been designed using Blade Eater characteristics, being a normal-looking human with a Core Crystal in his chest. This does not matter in any practical way, as this is enough to make him equal with all other Agnians.
==In other languages==
==Gallery==
Zeke Core Crystal.jpg|Zeke showing his implanted Core Crystal
Amalthus Haze Core Crystal.png|Amalthus with Haze's Core Crystal on his forehead
Amalthus Blade Eater experiment.jpg|Amalthus experiments on people to create Blade Eaters
Gort Blade Eater.png|A mutated Blade Eater Gort
Category:Blades (XC2)Category:Lore (XC2)