Architect

The Architect is a character in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. He is said to have created Alrest.

Appearance and personality
The Architect is a man with a skeletal constitution and long gold hair. The right half of his body is replaced by a dark void. He wears the ragged remains of his lab coat, with several wires and green tubes connected to his back. The Architect is full of regret, believing that his immortality via the Conduit is a punishment from on high from when he conducted the experiment with it eons ago. He also believed that it was fate that the new human race that he created were destined to destroy each other.

Story arc
Despite being mentioned multiple times throughout the story, the Architect never appears in-person until Chapter 7 in which he examines the empty terminal that once contained the Trinity Processor. In Chapter 10, he refers to himself as a fool, and says that "the time has come". Malos is the first to meet him; the Architect refers to him as "Logos". Confused, Malos asks him what the name means; he answers that it means nothing, but it represents of the egos of those who named him. Malos then asks him how many years have passed since they last met, and the Architect says that it has been too long to remember. Malos then tries to kill the Architect to no avail, with the latter revealing that he's dying anyway. Malos then asks if his own will is really his, with the Architect replying that it was 'a choice they made together'. Malos then thanks him for creating him and leaves to take control of Artifice Aion.

When Rex and his companions reach Elysium, they find it a barren wasteland much to Rex's shock. As the party explores the ruins, they come across a church. The Architect greets them as they enter the ruined building. Pyra recognizes his voice, which surprises Mòrag, prompting her to ask where he is; he replies that he "is always here", then requests them to come to him, opening a secret passage beneath the altar. When the party descends the stairs, he tests them by making them experience the fears they unconsciously harbored; in the process, Rex nearly breaks down. This prompts Pyra to ask the Architect to put an end to the illusions, which he agrees to do.

The party then finds themselves in the Architect's Room, much to their confusion. The Architect explains that he wanted to examine the shapes of their hearts. He then introduces himself as Klaus, saying that he has been watching them throughout their journey. Rex asks him if he created the illusions they saw, which he confirms. In turn, Zeke and Dromarch confront him about the purposes of the illusions; his answer is that he wished to find out how mankind has changed and where it is heading. Mòrag then asks the Architect if he was disappointed in the results, to which he replies that he is not, further explaining that it is good enough how they stand before him right now. Rex then tells him he came here because of Pyra, and asks if this really Elysium. The Architect responds by telling the party that he will show them his and the planet's memories. He explains that Alrest (at the time it was Earth) was once the center for a struggle for survival that dwarfed the current situation on Alrest. He explains that humans lived for themselves, and that "the natural state of man" was to harbor desires and struggle to realize them. He lost hope for mankind because of it, searching for an outside solution; he found this in the form of the Conduit, although he does not know why it appeared before humanity. The Architect revealed to the party that many universes exist side-by-side but unaware of one another, and the Conduit was the link to those worlds. The Architect opened this link by conducting the experiment that created Alrest, hoping it would change the world for the better. He then asks the party if they have seen the ruins of Morytha, the remains of Earth. When he activated the Conduit, the majority of the planet — including the right half of his body — disappeared into many dimensions. At this point the Architect's room lights up to reveal a dark void that was once his right half, shocking the entire party, and says that half of him is living in another dimension, but not for long as that half's death is approaching. Lamenting his foolishness with his experiment and yearns for death which he is denied, believing it is a punishment from among high. The Architect then explains to atone for what he done, sworn to restore the world he obliterated. To start, he created the Cloud Sea which can disassemble matter it makes contacts with and rebuild it in the images of things that once made up the old world. Then he begins to recreate life by gathering miniature vessels containing Core Crystals which contains the memories of Earth's former lifeforms, and scatters them across the Cloud Sea which bonded with its particulate reconstructors, creating the nuclei of new life; which developed into the Titans which then gave birth to many organism based on the data in their Core Crystals which then evolved into the new breed of human-kind which Mòrag muses that's how they came into being in Alrest. But the Architect did not trust the world born as it is, fearing someone similar to him appears, to stave out these doubts he created the Blades, with Ontos, Logos, and Pneuma the three Core Crystals which forms the Trinity Processor, but Ontos vanished in a space-time transition event, leaving only Logos and Pneuma (which the inhabitants of Alrest knows them as Malos and Pyra respectively) with managing the Blades, as Pyra ponders on her true identity in which the Architect nods in agreement. Dromarch the asks the Architect what he meant by managing, his answer: The Core Crystal at the heart of each Blade are tasked with relaying information to Logos and Pneuma about the outside world as well of the biological status of the human they bonded with, as well as the experiences emotions they shared. As their data continually accrues, new evolutionary codes are sent back to the Core Crystals, and with that code is used to create new evolved Blades which eventually become Titans and create a new generation of lifeforms: the new circle of life that the Architect created which Azurda remarks as a grand scheme that boggles the average person's mind. Rex realizes that the new humans were born of that new cycle of life to replace the victims of the old world which the Architect confirms as well as confirming that the Guldo down in the Land of Morytha were in fact, humans who survived the devastation of Earth, with Rex definitively confirms. The Architect admits that the Core Crystals were originally used to replace human brain cells: a product of humanity's quest for immortality, with Mòrag lamenting the fate of the former human survivors, but the Architect adds that technology were the origins of Blades and Titans, with Azurda remarking that their sacrifice were not in vain, but everyone would not see it as such. Dromarch asks the Architect if they developed as he hoped, the Architect in turn ask what to they think. The Architect then explains that the phantasms that they experienced earlier are the feelings that lurks in all of humanity including Amalthus. The Architect then muses that if person loses something, they cannot help but seek a reason why within themselves or others, seeking answers of who they really are inside as a lonely existence with the data passed through him and realizes that the new humans he created are not different from the old ones, explaining the reason that he didn't intervene in Amalthus taking Malos and Mythra's Core Crystals to Alrest and watched Malos scourge the world he created, with Rex questioning him why as he went all that trouble to restore the planet, with the Architect saying it was fated to happen, saying that his atonement was in vain, now once again yearning to die, shocking Pyra. However due to Rex and Pyra's and Mythra's bond with his friends and allies in way the Architect thought was not possible, moreover The Conduit started to once again stirring, revealing that Rex and Pyra's and Mythra's power comes from the Conduit, warning them that its power that couldn't know about, but with its help it would help change the world for the better.

At the same time, Malos begins his assault on Alrest with several Sirens, shaking the World Tree in the process which Rex asks the cause of it. The Architect says it was Malos, trying to destroy Alrest and everything in it, revealing his true nature as an information processing unit, neither good nor evil, motivated by the despair Amalthus felt, with Rex saying it was right what he felt back in Indol during the first meeting with the praetor. The Architect then asks Rex what is his desire, his answer: to stop Malos, explaining the sixth rule of the Salvager's code: "First have a punch-out, then drink to forget. Once it's forgotten, the friendship's all set", (with Rex remembering that he's still too young to drink). The Architect then asks Pneuma, correcting himself by referring them as "Pyra and Mythra", to apologize for having to burden them on Rex's journey. Pyra then told the Architect not to worry as she's actually grateful that she met the party on their journey to Elyisum because of him. The Architect then transfers all of Elysium's data and authorization to Pneuma, then warn Rex that he's gonna die soon, and when he does, the Conduit and its power will vanish forever. The party then leaves to confront Malos, but not before Rex asks the Architect if he changes his mind about the world, his answer: that he was glad to met the party, with Rex thanking him for creating life. As the party departs to face Malos, the Architect muses that he might able to face Galea again.

During the fight with Aion, Shulk can be heard as he prepares to kill Zanza, prompting the Architect to tell Rex that his death is imminent. After the grueling battle Rex, Pneuma, and Siren was able to defeat Aion, at the same time, with his right half, Zanza dead, the Architect and the Conduit begin to fade away from existence, but not before giving his humans one final gift: he directs the remaining Titans to gather at an undeveloped patch of land.