Elhaym Van Houten

Elhaym Van Houten, nicknamed Elly, is a playable character and the main heroine of Xenogears.

Appearance and Personality
Elly has knee-length orange hair and blue eyes.

History (Prior Incarnations)
Also see Sophia

Elly is the Antitype, the opposing existence to The Contact. When Abel made contact with the Wave Existence, the Existence added the mother's will to the programming of Deus. Every time The Contact is reincarnated a corresponding version of the Antitype will also be born. At least four versions of Elly have existed since the crash of Deus although it is possible that others also existed which the game never gets into.

When the Elridge crashed, Kadomony activated a program known as System Hawwa which awakened the original Miang. After creating the first humans on the planet, Cain and the Gazel Ministry, she created 2 duplicates of herself, the original Elly and Miang (0000). Elly broke away from Miang and the others and met up with Abel. Initially their relationship was akin to a mother and child, but in all future incarnations they would act as lovers. Once an adult, Abel rebelled against Cain's control of the people and Cain attempted to murder him. Elly jumped in the way and was killed instead. Thus began a recurring aspect of Elly, her self-sacrificing nature and the fact that she would die in front of The Contact.

The next version of Elly introduced in the story lived in the Zeboim era approximately 4,000 years before the event of the game. She worked as a nurse in a college hospital and would meet and fall in love with Kim, that era's version of The Contact. Similar to many from that era, Elly suffered from genetic damage and was unable to have children. When the military launched an invasion on Kim's laboratory in order to seize his nanomachine creation Emeralda, Elly was killed right in front of him.

The most recent incarnation of Elly before the events of the game was Sophia. The Holy Mother of Nisan and a key rallying point for the rebellion against Solaris, she would also self-sacrifice herself in an attack on Solaris' aerial fortress Merkava.

History (Elly Van Houten)
The current day version of Elly was born 18 years ago, the only child of Erich and Medena Van Houten. Elly was a first Class Solarian citizen but had a complex over her appearance as she didn't have the blonde hair that all first class Solaris citizens have. Elly's father had sheltered a land dweller and employed her as a nurse. As a result Elly thought that the nurse was her real mother. In actuality, Erich and Medena are Elly's true parents and her appearance is due to being the Antitype.

At the age of 13 Elly was enrolled in Jugend. 1 year prior to the events of the game Elly suffered adverse reaction to the drug drive. The drug temporarily unleashed her powers as the Antitype and as a result 2 of her classmates were killed and 3 were more injured but eventually able to be revived. Elly was expelled from being able to enter the Elements group and instead became a 3rd weapons divisions officer for Gebler after graduation. Her current rank is second lieutenant.

Present Day
Elly as a Gebler officer is stationed on the surface. She takes part in a mission to infiltrate a Kislev base and steal Gears from them, including Weltall. Kislev forces pursue her and her colleagues as they flee and she is forced to make an emergency landing just outside of Lahan Village where she abandons her Gear. Elly flees to the nearby Blackmoon Forest and is uninvolved in the events of that night which result in Lahan's destruction. Within the forest she first meets Fei, pointing a gun at him. After Fei rescues her from a monster she trusts him more and the two converse via firelight. The next day Fei reveals to her his role in the destruction of Lahan Village, Elly feels guilty in her role over what happened but keeps this a secret and argues with Fei after he tries to push off all responsibility for what happened. The two split off from each other but she is soon attacked by a Rankar Dragon, forcing Fei to rescue her with Weltall, which has been brought by Citan. That night Citan, recognizing that she is from Gebler asks Elly to leave which she does so after revealing her actual involvement in what happened with Lahan.

Elly returns to Aveh capital Bledavik and Fei runs into her when he is escaping along with Bart and Margie. Elly temporarily lets them hide in her room then supplies them with a Gear they are able to use. Fei asks Elly to abandon the military and come with them, but she refuses. Elly is later given command over 5 other Gebler soldiers and is provided the usage of the Gear Vierge. They head to the mountains near the Aveh - Kislev border and run into Fei. Elly is initially unable to control her subordinates, but after they all are defeated by Fei she reluctantly takes drive and fights him personally. Elly's personality completely changes and she tries to kill Fei, but he restrains her and she returns to normal. Elly is next assigned a role in an attack on Nortune by Gebler. Elly is reluctant to be involved as it will result in mass casualties for the land dwellers, but feels she has no choice. While she takes part in the operation, she is encountered by Fei again. When Fei shows all the destruction that the attack is causing for innocent civilians, Elly decides to depart from Gebler and help hold off the attack. She tries to singlehandedly change the path of the Hecht away from a reactor and collapses in the attempt, being saved by the involvement of Grahf.

Elly accompanies Fei and the others as they depart from Nortune and head to the Goliath Factory where they steal the Goliath and head towards the Aquvy region. Grahf soon comes upon them and attacks the party, but refrains from personally attacking Elly. The Goliath is soon blown out of the sky by Bart and Elly is stranded on the sea with Fei during which time they grow closer to each other. Elly and Fei are soon picked up by the Thames and they fight off Elly's former colleague Dominia when she attacks with the Gear Haishao. While Haishao is defeated, Dominia captures Elly and brings her back to a Gebler Battleship. Miang personally steps in between the two but hypnotizes Elly and causes her to secretly damage the Yggdrasil's engine. Elly insists that she be able to help in defending the Yggdrasil and she is able to successfully drive away Ramsus when he also attacks in Haishao. During this attack Fei is severly injured. Elly feels really guilty over what happened to him and convinces the Etone Billy to treat Fei at the Ethos Headquarters.