Maria Balthasar

Maria Balthasar is a playable character in Xenogears.

Appearance and personality
Maria has light brown hair of medium length and green eyes. She wears a yellow ribbon in her hair and goggles on her head.

Despite her young age, Maria is a powerful Gear pilot and acts as a guardian for the nation of Shevat. She is distressed over the state of her father, who remains captured within Solaris, and is hesitant to fight him when he attacks Shevat with his Gear Achtzehn.

Story arc
Maria is the daughter of Nikolai and Claudia Balthasar. She was born in the Terrane area on the surface. Half a year after her birth, her father was captured by Solaris, who desired his skills with Gear engineering. Maria and her mother were soon captured as well and brought to Solaris to act as hostages to force Nikolai to work on Solaris' M Plan. Maria's mother despaired over their situation and what her husband was being forced to do. As Nikolai approached the end of his research she proposed to Nikolai that she flee Solaris along with Maria and the Gear he had been developing, Seibzehn. However this required Maria's brain to be able to synchronize with the Gear's nervous system. Claudia chose to instead have herself fused with the Gear, and was able to make it look like she died in an accident. While Maria felt something was special about Seibzehn, she didn't know the truth about what happened to her mother.

Nikolai was able to contact his grandfather, Balthasar and arrange for Maria to escape from Solaris with Seibzehn. The escape was successful, and Maria was able to flee from Solaris at the age of 4. Maria stayed on the surface initially but eventually was brought by Balthasar to Shevat, where she lived starting at the age of 10. During her time with Balthasar, he taught her how to operate Seibzehn. Despite her young age, Queen appointed Maria a guardian of Shevat.

Rumors of Maria existed on the surface and both her and Seibzehn were being investigated by Jessie. Eventually the party makes their way up Babel Tower in an attempt to contact Shevat. At the top of the tower Maria appears with Seibzehn and fights the party until they are able to show they have sufficient strength. Once doing so, Zephyr permits Maria to bring them to Shevat. Shortly afterwards, Shevat is infiltrated by Dominia. Maria joins up with the party to make their way through the emergency shafts of Shevat, eventually making it to Seibzehn's dock. There Dominia reveals to Maria the experiments her father was involved with regarding fusing humans and machines. Before revealing the truth about Seibzehn however, Jessie arrives and causes her to flee.

Shortly afterwards, an invasion of Shevat is launched by Solaris. The Gear leading the attack is the Achtzehn, which Maria immediately recognizes as a Gear developed by her father. Maria is shocked to soon hear her father's voice coming out of it. When Achtzehn uses a anti-jamming shield, all Gears with the exception of Seibzehn are immobilized. Maria is hesitant to fight against her father, causing Chu Chu to fight Achtzehn in her place. Maria watches from afar and is told by Midori that she senses her father calling. Maria decides to take on the Achtzehn. Her father tells her he was reborn within the Achtzehn and that they can start a new life in this form. Seibzehn refuses to cooperate, however, and Maria is transmitted a hidden message from her father. He tells her while his body is gone his spirit lives on within the Seibzehn. Using its Graviton cannon, the Seibzehn destroys the Achtzehn.

Following the battle, Maria asks the party to let her join them and is encouraged to do so by Zephyr. Maria remains a party member the rest of the game. She plays a key role in enabling the party's infiltration of Solaris by using Seibzehn's heavy particle cannon. She remains outside of Solaris on standby until everyone else is ready to escape. For the remainder of the game, Maria's development is limited. She does not align with an Anima Relic nor obtain an Omnigear.

Lore
Maria and her Gear Seibzehn were an inspiration for the character Mai Magus and Leupold in Xenosaga Episode III.