Isaac Balthasar

Isaac Balthasar, also known as Old Man Bal is a character from Xenogears. He is one of the 3 sages of Shevat and is the great grandfather of Maria Balthasar.

Appearance and Personality
Balthasar is an old man with medium length gray hair and brown eyes. He has large bushy eyebrows.

Balthasar's interests lie in Gear engineering and fossils. While initially helpful to Bart and Fei, he becomes adversarial after realizing the danger posed by Weltall.

Story arc
Balthasar is one of the 3 sages of Shevat and through nanotechnology has been able to live for over 500 years. He was a specialist in Gear mechanics and both built and repaired Gears for Shevat as part of their war against Solaris 500 years ago. Balthasar is the grandfather of Nikolai and the great grandfather of Maria. 9 years prior to the events of the game he helped his great granddaughter escape from Solaris along with the Gear that Nikolai was developing, Seibzehn. For two years they lived together on the surface and he trained her on how to operate the Gear. He eventually would leave her in Shevat under the care of Queen Zephyr.

In the modern day he hides out on the surface in the Stalactite Cave. He has built a Gear that greatly resembles Seibzehn. . Fei and Bart come across Balthasar after falling into the cave. He provides them with supplies and shows them his fossil collection, telling them of the old legends and myths of humanity's creation and the omnigear. He also helps Fei and Bart help open up the way out of the cave by opening the barrier while the two of them turn off two Sand Sensor devices. Operating on the Weltall, he is shocked, calling it the host for the spirit of the slayer of God. He tells Fei and Bart to leave and launches Calamity after them, which they defeat.

Balthasar appears much later in the game at Taura's home after Fei and Elly are defeated in battle by Ramsus. Balthasar helps Taura in upgrading the Weltall to suppress Id's power, creating the Weltall 2.

Lore
Balthasar acted as inspiration for the character Aizen Magus from Xenosaga 3.