Melia

Melia Antiqua (, Melia Ancient) is a playable character in Xenoblade Chronicles.

Appearance and personality
Melia is a half-blooded High Entia, appearing as a petite Homs with braided curly silver hair, a ring through her teal eyes, and a pair of small feathered wings on her head. Her main appearance comprises an arched headdress, a strapless dress, a sleeved cloak, elbow-length gloves, short bottoms, thigh-length socks, and boots, all with the same colour scheme of lavender, purple, blue, and white.

Melia is a conflicting mix of young and wise, owing to her dual heritage; she has minimal real-world experience and does not show much awareness on how other people act, but thinks very carefully about every situation and has a huge wealth of knowledge to draw upon, making it rare for her to make a mistake. She is a very private person, extremely reluctant to reveal anything about herself to others, and actively tries to repel such inquiries by acting stiff, haughty, and unapprochable. But if someone does successfully get to know her, they find a sharp sense of humour with an unbreakable poker face, a loneliness of not knowing the nature of friendship or what it feels to be someone else's equal, and a typical young girl's compassion for anything that is soft, cute, and furry.

Story arc
While glimpsed a few times in visions beforehand, Melia is first seen proper with a cadre of four High Entia guardsmen as she fights a Telethia in Makna Forest. The cadre are quickly wiped out by the huge creature, while Melia manages to unleash a huge wave of ether energy at it. It is not shown what happens next, but the results are that the Telethia is gone, and Melia is left unconscious in the middle of a patch of land drained of colour.

Not long after, a group of four Homs arrive: Shulk, Reyn, Dunban, and Sharla. Finding what looks to be an unconscious Homs - as Melia's Crest Cap conceals her wings - they take her to a safer location not far away and try to help her. Sharla deduces that she has severe ether deficiency, and needs high-quality water ether crystals to fix it. Shulk sends himself alone to find some, which he succeeds at, but must contend with lesser Telethia and a mysterious stranger called Alvis before he returns. Sharla uses the crystals to disperse a cloud of ether around Melia, which is absorbed into her body and allows her to awaken. Shulk approaches with a friend's air, but Melia is not yet thinking straight, and slaps him for touching her. The misunderstanding is quickly cleared, but Melia is still not willing to talk about herself or her reason for being here. She does decide to repay them for helping her by guilding them to Frontier Village, from where they can continue to the Bionis' head.

Arriving in the village, Melia tells chief Dunga that the Homs want to reach Eryth Sea, which he allows. Melia then secludes herself to consider her losses and unfinished business. Shulk, knowing she must be important because he's seen her in his visions of the future, seeks her out to try and learn what she's trying to do so he can help. Recalling something Alvis had said after fighting the smaller Telethia, he quickly figures out that she is planning to fight the big Telethia alone. Melia is extremely dubious of everything Shulk says - claming he killed Telethia, claiming he can see the future, and most importantly claiming that he wants to help her for no benefit to himself - and becomes offended at the implication she cannot kill the Telethia alone. Dunga is also present, and declares he will send Heropon Riki to help the group with the Telethia. Things quickly spiral out of Melia's control and she has effectively no choice but to accept the help.

The party venture through the forest until they find another area that has been drained of ether. Shulk shows absolute faith and confidence in being able to win the upcoming fight, which Melia does not understand. The Telethia appears, prompting Melia to blast it with ether from her hand and make it stop moving for a bit; the rest of the party is impressed she can use ether without help of a weapon. THe ensuring fight does not go badly, but the Telethia begins to activate a regenerative power that they cannot overcome. Melia gives up, believing they can no longer win. Shulk rejects this, recalling how he watched Metal Face kill Fiora, and refuses to just allow someone else to feel the same loss. They continue fighting, and this time succeed, forcing the Telethia to absorb so much ether at once that it implodes. Melia tries not to show it but is grateful for the help, which Shulk downplays as being mostly her doing anyway. With Dunga telling Riki to keep following the group, Melia continues to act as their guide as they go to Eryth Sea.

Melia explains that the party's destination, Prison Island, cannot be entered without permission from the emperor of Alcamoth, the imperial capital. She does not question why they wish to go there, but is curious about it; Shulk convinces her to admit this, and tells her about their quest of revenge against the Mechon. Melia leads the party across the floating reefs to the entrance of Alcamoth. Before they can enter, members of the guard appear, the Homs's first sight of High Entia. Melia leaves the party behind and enters Alcamoth with the guards, telling them they are her guests and should be treated as such. Shulk and Dunban suspect Melia has some sort of high rank in the society, and trust she can get them an audience with the emperor, but a different set of guards appear; they are taken to the Whitewing Palace and arrested in all but name.

Melia enters the of the palace to meet with Emperor Sorean and Prince Kallian, introducing herself as First Princess. Sorean is proud that his daughter killed the Telethia, regardless of losing her cadre. Kallian brings up that the other party members have been arrested because they believe Shulk has the Monado, which Melia confirms, and they must keep them confined until they can ascertain whether Shulk can be trusted. Melia is upset about this, but is distracted by the unexpected statement of Sorean naming her his successor and leaving. Kallian confirms that it is true, which Melia does not understand, as she views Kallian as the better successor in every possible way. Kallian then also leave, leaving her with Lorithia, the Minister of Research. Lorithia plants the idea in Melia's mind that the divine seer, who will be the one questioning Shulk, can free him. As it turns out, the seer is Alvis, who does indeed let the party free.

Melia is next seen accepting the Trial of the Tomb, an unknown challenge that if completed will confirm her as being successor to the empire. This is announced the next day to the general public; Sorean and Kallian are proud, while the First Consort Yumea is hopeful that this will get rid of her. The rest of the party is surprised to learn Melia is a princess, but don't get long before they are attacked by Yumea's goons, seeking to get rid of them as well. The attackers are subdued, and Shulk relays a vision he's received that Melia will be in trouble in the tomb. Dunban convinces the arriving Alvis and Kallian to let them go and save her, as Lorithia directs Melia to the entrance of the tomb.

The trial turns out to be trivially easy, and Melia reaches the altar at the end with ease. A simulated ancestor speaks to her, muses about genetics and an unknown curse, and declares she will be the next ruler of the High Entia - and also the last. A seal appears on the Empress Mask she wears, and the trial is over. Yumea's minion Tyrea emerges from hiding and attacks, upset that Melia was favoured by the ancestors despite being half-Homs. The rest of the party arrives at this point, as well as another Telethia. The Telethia is destroyed and Tyrea escapes; Melia is in disbelief that Shulk came to save her, again at no benefit to himself.

The happenings in the tomb are explained to Sorean and Kallian, who agree it does not change that Melia completed the trial successfully. After another speech to the public, Melia goes to rest in the Imperial Villa. She is once again surprised when the party comes to see her, wholly unaccustomed to the idea of altruism towards her, and is starting to sense unfamiliar feelings towards Shulk in particular. The ensuing conversation reveals that while she calls Yumea "mother", her actual mother is the Second Consort, a long-dead Homs. As a result of her half-blooded nature, many are prejudiced against her, so she cannot simply be out in public without a mask. Shulk then receives a vision of Sorean being killed by Metal Face, which is quickly followed by alarms and news of a Mechon attack. Melia rushes to Sorean, but he is gone, already left for Prison Island. The party are told by Kallian and Alvis that he knows he will die and to let him do what he needs to do, but they decide to follow regardless.

The group eventually reaches Prison Island, the doors only opening because Melia is of the imperial family. They reach the top to see that Sorean has met the island's single prisoner: a Giant called Zanza, who is currently being used to power a defence system around the island. Zanza tells Shulk that he made the Monado, and he can power it up so it can harm Face Mechon, but only if Shulk frees him. Melia knows something is not right and argues so, saying there must be some reason Zanza was initially imprisoned, but cannot prove it. Thus, Shulk frees him, but Metal Face throws a spear that penetrates both the shield around the island and Zanza's chest. With the shield down, both him and the new Face Nemesis land and fight. During the fight, Sorean blasts Metal Face with some leftovers of Zanza's energy, which disables him. Melia runs in and receives a hug, but Metal Face quickly waves up and stabs Sorean through. Shulk is distraught that he failed to save him, but he hears Zanza say that he successfully got the Monado unshackled, and Zanza's body disappears. Shulk uses the new Monado to fight back Metal Face and damage Face Nemesis, revealing it is being piloted by a young Homs that he and others appear to recognize as Fiora, before the Mechon leave. Sorean dies, and Melia vows that she will make them pay.

In the aftermath, Melia assigns Kallian to be regent for a time, then goes to see the group in the Whitewing Palace. She ignores attempts to ask her feelings and demands an explanation for who this "Fiora" is. She is told that her supposed death is the reason for the quest in the first place, such is how much Shulk cared for her. Melia does not know how to take this. Shortly, Kallian asks to see the group. He tells them he intends to form an allied force of Homs, Nopon, and High Entia, and that he wishes them to be ambassadors of it. Shulk does not immediately agree, and walks off. Melia knows now that Shulk can only think of Fiora, and he is likely to try and find her before he has a care for anything else. She does not wish to see Shulk leave, but decides he must have the chance to appreciate his loved ones (something she herself did not have), and goes to tell him so. This convinces Shulk to do so, and the rest of the party pledge to stay with him. However, this means Melia must stay behind, as diplomatic relations with the other races are her duty. As the group begins to leave, Sharla hangs back to talk about Melia's crush on Shulk, and that she will work to ensure that Shulk will return to her rather than go off with Fiora. Melia denies everything. Kallian then appears with a surrogate Melia in tow, and requests she join the party herself rather than stay behind. She accepts.

While probably unaware of it, Melia begins to draw closer to Shulk. She is the only one who dares to act when Metal Face has him in a tight spot on Valak Mountain, and he ends up choosing to help her out of everyone when a bridge collapses in Galahad Fortress. However, the team ends up being split on the Fallen Arm, and once she reconvenes with Shulk again, Fiora is with him. She appears to be displeased about this, but hides it, and shows no hesitation in treating Fiora as much of a friend as the rest of them.

Eventually, the party reaches the top of Mechonis and defeats Egil, its self-proclaimed leader. But as Shulk and Egil make peace, Dickson shoots Shulk, causing the god Zanza to be freed from his body and destroy Mechonis. During the group's escape, they run into Dickson and a swarm of Telethia, which they have difficulty dealing with without Shulk. Reinforcements arrive in the form of Kallian and his squadron of newly-developed Havres vessels, but the relief is only temporary. Lorithia, the designer of the Havres, activates a function that releases a large amount of ether into the ships and their High Entia occupants. This causes the High Entia to transform into Telethia - a property of their DNA that the imperial family was trying to defeat, and the reason for Melia's appointment to the throne, as half-bloods are immune. Kallian winds up only partially fused to the Telethia his ship has become, and attempts to attack the two traitors; it appears to work at this time, but is later shown to have done nothing.

The party lands in Colony 6 to recover and await what is expected to be an assault of Telethia formed from the citizenry of Alcamoth. After emotionally hovering over Shulk's motionless form for a time, Melia finds Fiora, and learns from her that she will soon die because her Mechon body will run out of power. Fiora does not want anyone to worry about it, and wants Melia to take care of Shulk when it happens. Melia is not happy about any of this, but accepts it. As expected, the Telethia attack, and they are driven off by Shulk's timely awakening and arrival.

To get to Zanza, the group must enter the Bionis. They reach its heart and find Lorithia, alongside the unresponsive Kallian Telethia. Lorithia gloats and fuses to the Telethia so she can elimiate the party, but fails, and is destroyed. As the creature implodes, Melia finds herself in a white void of stopped time where a healthy Kallian speaks to her, telling her that she has done nothing wrong and the Telethia transformation of him and many others was known and inevitable. The world returns to normal and the monster vanishes, with a few words from Kallian following. Melia thanks him before realizing that no one else has seen or heard him - except for Riki, who validates that she was not just hearing things, and so she hugs.

In the end, Melia's suffering is difficult to comprehend. She outlives her Homs mother as a child. She spends her life being discriminated against as a half-blood. She loses her cadre, the only people she ever thought of as friends, on a mission that is strongly implied to have been set as a way to kill her. She watched all of her family die, some of which by her own hand, and lost her entire society on the whim of a mad god. She develops her first genuine feelings for another person, which are never returned and blocked by the reappearance of someone thought dead. And she knows that she will outlive her friends several times over. Yet never once does she complain or break down, and refuses to show any hint of the feelings affecting her - the only thing she shows is determination and hope for the few people she has left.

As a party member
Melia is a mix of a stat-buffing support and an ether attacker, summoning elementals that provide strong benefits while active and insane damage when discharged. Correctly balancing these two strategies is key to doing the most damage while avoiding catching a whiff of aggro, as she is by far the frailest party member.

Gallery
Melia