Noah

Noah (, Noah) is one of the main protagonists of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. He is a soldier from Keves and an off-seer.

Appearance and personality
Noah is a young man with long black hair tied in a ponytail and blue eyes. His main appearance comprises a red jacket with straps on his chest in an X-shape, a short sleeved turtleneck underneath, black pants with straps, and black boots. As an off-seer, Noah wore an all black dress uniform. Whenever he draws Lucky Seven from the Veiled Sword, his left arm is covered in a glowing armored gauntlet that compromised of the sword's sheath. His term mark is located on his right hand.

Noah is an off-seer — he often mourns for soldiers who have fallen in battle. He hates fighting and taking lives from others. He plays a black flute with golden decorations. His experience with the deaths of many friends through war has led him to question why there must be fighting between the two warring sides.

As Ouroboros
When interlinking with Mio, Noah takes on one of two Ouroboros forms: one associated with himself, the other with Mio. Noah's Ouroboros form appears as a deep purple muscular humanoid, with a long ponytail that can be used to attack enemies and a blade-like horn on its head. Its chest contains a glowing core from which Noah may draw the Sword of Origin. The form is armed with two asymmetric swords which can be joined together; when not in use, the swords are stowed on its back.

Noah's Ouroboros is attack-focused and excels at hand-to-hand combat in addition to its various weapons; using it, Noah and Mio are able to fight off D and J's interlink in their first encounter. It is also resistant to damage, although not enormously so in comparison to other Ouroboros forms.

Prologue
A young Noah and his friends, Eunie, Lanz and Joran are seen dashing through a crowd for the Queen's anniversary in. When the clock strikes six, time stops except for Noah. He then looks around in confusion before noticing a planet on a collision course with his world.

Chapter 1
Noah, Eunie, Lanz, Mwamba and Riku took part in the battle against Colony Sigma in which they are victorious. Noah is the only participating soldier not celebrating the victory, instead expressing unhappiness for the needless bloodshed. In a flashback at the beginning of his second term, Noah, Eunie, Lanz and Joran battle Garvel and his gang in a training exercise. The fight goes bad with Lanz being pushed to his limits until Joran used his rod to heal Lanz, giving him the strength he needs to fend them off. But not without Joran being defeated by Garvel.

After the battle, an angry Lanz attempts to punch Joran for his recklessness only for Noah to stop him, followed by Eunie who claims that Joran did the right thing by saving him. Joran then claims that he let Noah down on his birthday. Noah and his friends then witness a Homecoming (with their Queen even personally taking part).

Back in the present, Noah is seen sending off several husks (even Agnian ones as their off-seers were killed in the battle) before all the transports take off without the party, much to their dismay, forcing the party to make the long trek back to on foot. When they finally arrive, the party then head to the bathing tent. While in the tent, it is revealed through a conversation between Noah and Eunie that Joran was killed a couple years ago, and that his death is why Noah became an off-seer in the first place.

The next day a royal decree was issued by the Castle. Colony 9's mission from its commander is to destroy a large ether source of unknown origin in the Alfeto Valley. Agnian forces are noted to also be targeting the ether source, alongside a potential third party. With these orders, the main group (accompanied by Mwamba and Riku as before) make their way into the valley.

On their way, the party came under attack by a Drifter Ropl which they swiftly defeat. Mwamba then decides to leave the group. In a flashback Noah and Joran discuss about their Homecomings. The party then rests up at Forward Post Camp before the mission starts. During the mission, Noah realizes something's off, such as his Flame Clock filling up more from a fallen Agnian than usual.

When they reach the target area in, they came under attack by unidentified automatons which they destroy. As they get closer to the objective, the party notices a lone man defending the Ouroboros Stone (which was the source of the ether). But when the party approaches the stone, they came under attack by Mio, Taion and Sena. During his scuffle with Mio, he notices her movement is reminiscent of the notes of the Agnian Off-seeing tune. Through memorizing those notes, he manages to land a hit on Mio, before noticing the fighting has stopped. Despite this, Mio continued attacking Noah despite his plea to stop. It wasn't until the man, Guernica Vandham intervened and stopped them from killing each other.

When Guernica demands the two why are they fighting, Noah is unable to answer. When Mio continued her assault, Guernica punched her, before demanding to know why they are targeting the Ouroboros Stone and him, before questioning them who's the real enemy is. Guernica then questions why they are fighting with both sides explaining their reasons. Noah explains that they have to fight so they can go on living, unhappy that is how it should be, before Guernica interrupts him, noticing Noah is an off-seer before trusting the Ouroboros Stone to him.

Just as Guernica is about to reveal the identity of the party's real enemy, he is impaled by an unidentified creature's stalactite-like projectile. The creature then approaches the party with Mwamba and Hackt in both hands. Noah notices that his Blade is reacting to the creature. When Lanz asks if he has seen the creature before, Noah remarks he's not a normal creature. The creature then tries to goad both the Kevesi and Agnian parties to fight, when they refused, he killed both Mwamba and Hackt, much to Noah's horror. Guernica manages to get back into a downed Armory-type Levnis and fights back, only for the creature to tear it apart and grab him. Noah then frees Guernica from the creature's grasp before he engages the party.

Noah and the party at first had a difficult time harming the creature, it wasn't until Guernica activates the Ouroboros Stone, allowing Noah and Mio to Interlink for the first time that they finally get an edge. After transforming, the creature identifies himself as a Moebius before reengaging the party. With the power of Ouroboros, Noah and Mio were able to defeat him. Before departing however, the Moebius projects an infinity symbol in the sky, marking the party enemies of Moebius. After the battle, Noah and Mio cancels the Interlink.

After the skirmish, a dying Guernica explains that the party has become Ouroboros, but warns them that Moebius will be hunting them relentlessly before directing them to their new destination: the City at Swordmarch. After his death, Noah and Mio sent off Guernica before both parties made the journey back to their respective colonies.

When Noah and co. reach Alfeto Valley however, they came under attack by their own troops, forcing them to knock them out and flee back to Melnath's Shoulder the same time Mio's group fled Colony Gamma. Both parties decides to team up, and after each party member's introduction and their hobbies, as well as a change of clothes, the party begin their journey to Swordmarch.

Chapter 2
In a flashback, Noah, Eunie, Lanz, Garvel, and Riku are seen running for their lives during an Agnian attack on Colony 14. Just as they were about to escape, an Agnian Levnis corners them, only for Ethel the destroy the Levnis and save them. After the attack, Noah, Eunie, and Lanz (now refugees) were greeted by Ethel who complemented on Noah's Blade.

When the party reach Millick Meadows, Noah reminds the rest of the party that if they engage with either Kevesi or Agnian troops, they are to either knock them out or get them to surrender. The party then restarts an abandoned Ferronis and sets up camp there. The next day, as Noah is looking at news of the war through his Iris, he notices an icon appeared above Mio's head, allowing him to change his class to match Mio's, as well as implementing Master Arts. The rest of the party also gain this ability. They test these powers on some Bodem Grebels before reaching the Fornis Region.

When the party enters Eagus Wilderness, Mio becomes dehydrated from the heat, much to Taion's dismay, prompting Sena to carry her. The two spot an oasis, exciting Mio, prompting the party to take a break there to go swimming. While there, Taion warns Noah that annihilation events occur frequently in Eagus Wilderness before he jumps in the lake with the rest of the gang.

After swimming, as the party makes their way to Ribbi Flats, Mio remarks that Noah's is different. Noah realizes that's she's the second person to notice it, the first was Silvercoat Ethel, who saved their lives in the past.

In a flashback, as everyone is calling out their Blades, Noah only draws a blunt sword, a fact that Garvel and his gang bully him for and breaks it. Noah and his friends then visits Riku at his workshop, who offers Lucky Seven, a sword so powerful that it can damage Ferronises to him for the trials, but he refuses it, as he doesn't need it. Noah then claims that he cannot call his Blade, but Riku said he can, just no fighting spirit. Noah then calls a red sword Blade, much to the party's surprise. Riku then convinces Noah to take Lucky Seven to conceal it in a sheath.

Just as the party was about to make it out of Eagus Wilderness, they comes under attack by Colony 4. Noah then tries to reason with Ethel, due to being under the control of Consul K, she doesn't recognize him and attacks the party forcing them to flee into a nearby cave system, using the black fog as cover before being cornered by Ethel.

When Ethel approached the black fog, she stops, breaking free of K's control, forcing the Consul out of hiding and engaging the party himself. After being wounded, K transforms into his Moebius form and starts harvesting the Colony's Flame Clock to heal himself. When Noah considers destroying the Flame Clock, Mio decides to bare Noah's burden of potential life loss. When his Ouroboros form fails to damage the Flame Clock, he remembers that Lucky Seven can damage Ferronises. Noah then tells Mio to cancel their Interlink after jumping. Noah with the help of Mio draws Lucky Seven for the first time to destroy the Flame Clock, depriving K of his healing source. Without the Flame Clock, K is swiftly killed by the party. When the party removes the fallen Consul's helmet they are shocked that he's has wrinkles just like Guernica. Ethel and rest of Colony 4's soldiers regained consciousness, much to the party's relief. Noah then sends off the late Consul despite the party's protest. Back at Colony 4, Ethel allows the party to stay in for the night.

Inside the tent, the party discussing the suspicions of the Consuls of Keves and Agnus being the same individuals after Taion confirms that K is the same Consul as Agnus's, and that both Queens are in league with them. The party then give out the description of both Queens from their respective sides.

Chapter 3
The next day, the party is summoned by Ethel in the Council chamber. On their way, they came across Bolearis, revealing that Colony 4 was demoted to Dirt rank after a scandal in which Ethel spared Cammuravi after his Ferronis malfunctions, much to the party's shock. Ethel then told them that her soldiers still stood with her despite the demotion, before directing the party to the Council chamber.

In the Council chamber, Ethel reviews the routes to Swordmarch, eliminating the north route due to being close to Agnus Castle, the direct route due to how dangerous the Great Sea's vortex is, leaving the south route the only choice. She estimates that the party will reach Swordmarch in two months. After the meeting, the party decided to help out several people in the Colony. The party are greeted by a worried Bolearis, saying that Ethel disappeared, prompting them to search for her. When they found her overlooking a cliff, she request the party to retrieve several airdrops for the Colony. After these tasks, the party bid farewell to Ethel and depart for Ribbi Flats. On the way, the party helps a Levnis mechanic, named Valdi who in turn teaches them the Wall Climbing skill.

Being a Kevesi soldier born of a cradle, Noah was a young child living in the world of Bionis before Origin activated and Moebius formed, creating Aionios.

In his past lives as a Kevesi soldier and as Ouroboros, Noah usually wore a camo green jacket, a lime green undershirt, black pants and black military boots. These incarnations of Noah can be seen wielding the Sword of the End, a weapon that is later used by N.

Noah continuously reincarnated throughout history, despite commonly reaching the ten-year limit imposed upon cradle-born soldiers. What's more, he would, time and again, meet Mio and fall in love with her, who would also reincarnate regardless of Homecoming. Long after an incarnation where both had a child, Noah was revived and offered by Z to become Moebius, alongside Mio. However, Z required that the lives of the City's people be taken to breathe life into Mio once again. Noah accepted this task, and became N.

Lore

 * The original, pre-Intersection Noah can be seen preparing to celebrate "the Queen's anniversary" during the prologue of the game, alongside the original incarnations of Eunie, Lanz, and Joran.
 * The Japanese audio and text refers to this as a birthday celebration instead.
 * Interestingly, the playable incarnation of Noah seems to be the only one where he knew any of his friends from his original world.
 * Noah seems to have a poor sense of naming things, as evidenced by multiple cutscenes including his hesitance to share the name of his sword in Chapter 2.
 * Noah was inspired to become an off-seer after seeing Crys in Colony 14.
 * As a Kevesi soldier before becoming Moebius, Noah would continually reincarnate despite reaching Homecoming age. He and Mio are the only soldiers known to do this.

As a party member
Noah is a Swordfighter, with a combat style focused on melee attacks.

Trivia

 * Noah's role and appearance bears a resemblance to Xenogears' protagonist, Fei Fong Wong — he has a similar face, as well as a ponytail, see Thematic parallels for details.
 * Additionally, his name is shared with Xenogears' development name, Project Noah.
 * In concept arts, Noah is seen wearing gloves, these were not seen on the final version of the game.
 * Being nine years old, Noah is arguably the youngest protagonist in the Xenoblade Chronicles series.
 * This, of course, depends on technicalities. While the playable Noah is ninth term, this is roughly equivalent to 18 years of age.
 * You could also consider his age in the prologue, being a young child of approximately 10 years.

Concept art
Noah