Ziggy

Ziggurat 8, nicknamed Ziggy, originally known as Jan Sauer , is a playable character in the Xenosaga series.

Pied Piper
As a human, Ziggy's name was Jan Sauer. He lived on the planet Abraxas and was a captain for the Archon police. His father was also a policeman, but due to his missions he spent very little time with Jan. Jan's father would die in the line of duty while he was a child, but this didn't stop Jan from pursuing the same career. He led a team of individuals including Lactis, Melisse, Erich and Mikhail, as well as their combat support Robot Bugs. Their biggest investigation involved the cyber terrorist Voyager. Jan led multiple operations trying to save the victims of Voyager and try and capture him. Eventually, his commanding officer, McCallum pulls him off to instead provide security for a U.M.N. party held between the Galaxy Federation and Immigrant Fleet. However, Voyager's activities impact the party and he continues his investigation. As his investigation finds out more about Voyager and his political connections, including with Dmitri Yuriev, the investigation is shut down by his superiors. Jan decides to keep pursuing it however.

As part of the investigation Jan meets Sharon Rozas, a doctor working at the Galaxy Police Hospital. As the investigation continues and she helps him several times, Jan starts forming a relationship with her. He also meets her son Joaquin and befriends him. Jan and Sharon are eventually married. With his investigation stopped, Jan is arrested by forces working for Dmitri Yuriev, but he is able to escape along with his subordinates. He continues to pursue and investigate Voyager, even getting involved with the anti-U.M.N. group Veritas. Eventually, it is discovered that Jan's own subordinate Erich is Voyager. Jan has a final confrontation with Voyager after Voyager interferes with an Immigrant Fleet Pilgrimage Council and kidnaps Sharon and Joaquin. Sharon and Joaquin are killed by Voyager right in front of Jan. Jan battles Voyager, including after Voyager has been made the Black Testament by Wilhelm. Voyager is now too strong for Jan to defeat. Voyager tells Jan he has the choice of either becoming a Testament as well or being killed by him. Jan chooses neither and instead kills himself.

History
Ziggy, whose full name is Ziggurat 8. is a combat cyborg created by Ziggurat Industries. While he committed suicide, due to being an organ donor, his body was donated to science and he was resurrected as a cyborg. In this state, he was equipped with a safety mechanism preventing him from being able to hurt himself or abandon any mission he had been tasked with. Due to the Species Preservation Act, the practice of developing and upgrading cyborgs was ceased, making him among the last of such models in existence. Ziggy's goal is to have any remaining human components of his body replaced by mechanical parts, eliminating his humanity entirely. This is in stark contrast to present day Realians who are seeking more human rights.

Episode I
Ziggy is recruited by the Subcommittee on Close Encounters due to his high mission success rate. He is asked to take part in a mission to rescue MOMO from the U-TIC Organization. Considering himself to have no rights, he feels he has no choice but to accept the mission but requests that in exchange any neural memories in his brain from his previous life be eliminated. Ziggy is briefed further on the mission by Juli Mizrahi, then heads to Pleroma, the U-TIC base where MOMO is being held. Ziggy initially has a stealth cloak that makes him invisible, but it malfunctions and he has to sneak his way through the base. He is eventually able to find a key that enables him to release MOMO from her cell. When they meet MOMO provides him the nickname Ziggy, saying his full name Ziggurat 8 sounds more like a model number. Ziggy goes under this name for the rest of the series. This causes him to flash back to when he was human and provided his stepson with an artificial dog named Nexus 6 which his son nicknamed Nex.

Ziggy and MOMO make their way through the base and try to escape but must first confront Margulis along the way. Ziggy is able to activate a detonator that provides enough of a distraction for them to flee on a ship. The two of them are chased by U-TIC's forces and meet up with the Elsa, boarding the ship. There they meet Shion and the others and are able to fight off U-TIC. While Ziggy initially tries to keep their destination a secret, he relents and they tell them of their goal to head to Second Miltia.

Ziggy and MOMO remain aboard the Elsa with Shion and the others and are party members the rest of the game. Ziggy slowly becomes more comfortable with MOMO including letting her work on maintenance for his body. When in the Cathedral Ship, Cherenkov's transformation into a gnosis reminds Ziggy of something similar from his past. When the party travels into the Encephalon to recover records from KOS-MOS that will clear the Kukai Foundation from being framed, Ziggy is transported along with MOMO and Junior to the war-torn streets of Old Miltia during the Miltian Conflict. When MOMO is captured by Albedo and brought to the Song of Nephilim Ziggy seeks to rescue her on his own and tries to talk Junior out of doing the same before they agree to do it together. At the end of the game Ziggy is able to grab a hold of KOS-MOS and lift her into the Elsa as it escapes from the collapsing Proto Merkabah.

Episode II
Ziggy arrives on Second Miltia with the others and reports to Juli Mizrahi, telling her MOMO is looking forward to seeing her. Junior asks him if he's considered transferring to a carbon-based body and he declines, saying he doesn't want to extend his lifespan. Ziggy accompanies Junior, chaos and MOMO as they depart and are chased through the city by Richard and Hermann. Juli later checks in on Ziggy at the U.M.N. Control Center at MOMO's request. They talk about Juli's difficulties in interacting with MOMO. Ziggy tells her about his son, who died in an accident and that he committed suicide because of it. Juli says she pondered doing the same. Ziggy suggests that she imagined she had two daughters, with one of them still being alive.

Ziggy accompanies the other members of the party into the Subconscious Domain. After Albedo uses the Y-Data to open up the path to Old Miltia, Ziggy joins Elsa and travels there along with the others, heading through the Ormus Stronghold along the way. At the Ω System, Ziggy recognizes the Black Testament, calling him Voyager. He fires at him, but the projectiles instead are directed towards him, damaging him. He still has enough power to punch through a wall so the group can escape onto the Elsa, saying his body can always be repaired.

Towards the end of the game Juli speaks with Ziggy again, asking him to put off making himself fully machine for a while longer and to use life extensions for his organic parts. She says this is for MOMO's sake and she wants to learn more things from him. At the end of the game Ziggy meets with Juli and MOMO, saying he has been assigned to the Kukai Foundation and can be loaned out to MOMO if necessary. He has agreed to undergo life extension.