Plot summary of Torna ~ The Golden Country
This page describes a plot summary of Torna ~ The Golden Country. It is not a full description nor a complete novelization, but simply an overview of major events. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the entire plot of Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
Summary
The story begins about five hundred years before the main game, in the year 3564. The country and Titan of Coeia has been destroyed and sunk by Malos, though Indoline Praetor Rhadallis and the rising power of Mor Ardain claim joint attribution.
In a forest within the Kingdom of Torna, Lora and her Blade Jin are fighting off a pack of blood-crazed animals. They come upon a destroyed Porton Village and a lone survivor, a child called Mikhail, who Lora decides is now their friend. Back in Indol, Magister Baltrich reports the destruction of Coeia to Rhadallis, and suggests that Quaestor Amalthus's Blade is to blame; Rhadallis sees no reason to be concerned. Lora's group reaches Feltley Village expecting to meet up with Haze, but they find a large crater that Malos caused instead, and are attacked by one of his Gargoyle Artifices. They are saved by Addam and Mythra. Addam recognizes Jin as being the stolen Paragon of Torna and assumes Lora did it, so Jin and Lora fight for freedom. Addam is impressed by how they fight, specifically the idea of passing the Blade's weapon between them (which they came up with because Lora couldn't afford her own sword), so he decides he likes them. Haze then arrives, alongside Addam's young Gormotti aide Milton. Lora explains how she got Jin, and Addam decides to recruit them to help with Malos. Lora asks if they could first help her own quest: to find her mother, which Haze says has been spotted in Torigoth of Gormott. Addam agrees, partly since it's as good a place as any to find Malos. They are being watched by a "Bluefist", strongly implied to be the person who stole Jin and tried to kill Lora.
The party reach Yanchik Harbor and ride a ship to Gormott to find that Torigoth has been sacked, with several fresh graves in the cemetary. Lora finds a grave that she believes to be her mother's based on the necklace hung on it. The group is then surrounded by Ardainian troops and Brighid who think they're responsible. Mythra and Brighid have a duel in which Mythra decides to use the power of Siren against Addam's orders because she got upset about being called names, so Haze has to interrupt and force the two of them down. Hugo, emperor of Mor Ardain and Driver to Brighid, then arrives with his other Blade Aegaeon, and since he's an old friend of Addam the misunderstanding is quickly fixed. Hugo is also after Malos, so he suggests they have a meeting aboard his ship to swap stories, but first they must investigate what might be another problem that Malos caused. They go there but find it's just typical burns from a Dispare Ropl. In Indol, Amalthus recalls how Malos once destroyed the artifact that Indol called the "Aegis" and declared himself the new one, while his accomplice Stannif reveals a hidden cache of Judician and possibly Morythan technology. The technology shows that human and Blade DNA is very alike, and in fact Core Crystals contain many other types of DNA including potentially Titans. Stannif believes this is a message from the Architect he must decode, which seems to upset Amalthus.
On the Ardainian flagship, Hugo tells the others that it was the Coeians that ravaged Torigoth, after Malos sunk their homeland and they were left without orders. Addam recounts how he met Amalthus with Mythra, and how they were asked to erase the mistake of Malos, on the down-low to hide that Malos has an Indoline Driver. Aegaeon reports that a band of mercenaries has been found slinking back to Torigoth, which might be trouble because Lora and Haze stayed behind there. The two do indeed encounter the group of baddies, headed by "Bluefist", Gort. Gort was clever, only bringing humans to back him up so Haze has no one to neutralize, but the moment Jin arrives the battle is over. Both of Gort's arms are removed, and the mercenaries scatter into the rest of the party and Ardainian military. Lora asks that Jin not kill Gort, since he "took care" of her mother, so he is chased off instead; he is found by Stannif and a group of Indol monks. The party returns to the flagship, where they get news of a potential Torigoth survivor. Lora suggests they get there before the military does, and successfully retrieve Kali. They return him to his sister Kelly, and discover that they knew Lora's mother as "Auntie Rynea".
Hugo then receives news about the militia Addam has been forming in Uraya to fight Malos - they've been absorbed into the Urayan military and shipped out to Torna. Addam had specifically told the King of Uraya not to do this, so he has Hugo send word to the former militia to meet him at Aletta. He then reveals to Lora that he's worried Mythra will get away from him like Malos got away from Amalthus, to which Lora says she can tell Mythra is holding herself back so that doesn't happen. The group gets to Aletta, where Addam lives, and he gets a warm welcome. Hugo and Aegaeon leave to deal with some extra Coeian problems, while the rest of the party gives the resistance some general help. As part of this, Mikhail and Milton make dinner. Mythra tries to help, while the others try to keep her away, with Addam requesting that she and Lora do some sparring with him. They then go to clear monsters off Lett Bridge before sparring again, Addam trying the new strategy of using Mythra's weapon himself. They then hear that Malos's next target is the capital of Torna, which is known because Malos came to Amalthus to brag about it. Hugo and Aegaeon return, and they all set out.
The party encounters a Jagron on their way, which is defeated with the help of a newcomer Minoth, a Flesh Eater Blade of Amalthus that knows Addam. Minoth has been acting on his own for a bit, since he doesn't approve of what Amalthus has gotten up to, so he wasn't there when Amalthus climed the World Tree and brought back the Aegises. He comments on the new sword-swapping fighting style feeling like a very good idea. Later that night, Mythra brings up to Addam the last time they were in Indol, when they discussed how she thought Amalthus seemed to enjoy how the world was. Elsewhere, Gort has been taken to Indol, and Stannif suggests to Amalthus that they use him to try the idea of a Blade Eater. Minoth reminds the party they'll need medicine to get through the mushrooms of Dannagh Desert, so they have to backtrack for a time.
They reach Hyber Village on their way to the desert. Jin is recognized as a former Blade of Ornelia by the innkeeper Teo, who shows him the old house. He finds an old photo of himself, and a book that seems important to him. He keeps the book hidden from Lora, but she sees the photo, and has the idea of having a new one taken of her and him (and apparently the rest of the party). Some group bonding follows, and Lora becomes more worried about bringing the kids with them. She plans to ask Addam about what he thinks when Mythra discovers she has sleepwalked into someone else's bed, and offscreen chaos ensues. Addam appears the next day with a giant forehead bruise and affirms that he feels the kids can be best protected by being nearby. Upon arriving to the capital, Auresco, Mythra notices that the Titan isn't in its "original form". Addam says it used to have the strength to dominate all of Alrest by itself, but it has been sealed for a while by a sphere in a tower of the palace, which is presumably Malos's target.
The party reaches the palace to find Amalthus is already present, and they all go to meet the Tornan King, who is glad they have warned him and enables the resistance troops. The High Prince Zettar tries to start bad blood, but the King shuts him up and grants Addam a lordship. When the party leaves, Zettar continues to talk smack about how Addam can do what he wants, which the King returns with saying that Addam is better for the throne than he is. Malos's Gargoyles then begin attacking the city, so the party goes to clear them out, and end up finding Malos himself. He confirms he's going to free the Tornan Titan's true form, so they have a fight. Malos notices that Addam has the wrong eye colour for a Tornan (yellow rather than blue) and deduces he's an illegitimate heir, which Addam doesn't deny because his father doesn't care. Malos then casually leaves, leaving behind a lot of Gargoyles for the party to fight. They are saved by the arrival of "Nuncle" Azurda, who lets them ascend to chase Malos, but he already has the sealing orb in his grasp. He decides to let the party come find him in the Titan's core, rather than ending things right away, so he can have fun for longer.
In the aftermath, Azurda tells Jin that he and Ornelia are old friends of his. He then goes ahead to wait for the party in the womb of Torna, while they report to the King what happened. Zettar laughs at Addam's militia accomplishing nothing, but the King counters by asking what he accomplished, and affirms his trust in the party. He also grants Lora knighthood, with a ceremony to be held later. The party enters the womb, where old Blades become Titans, including Azurda - but then decide to wait for tomorrow's ceremony before moving towards Malos. In the inn for the night, Lora says Jin doesn't need his mask to disguise himself as a stolen Blade anymore, now that she's a knight, but Jin says he'll keep it because she made it for him. It's revealed that the book he found in Hyber Village contains instructions on how to become a Flesh Eater, presumably his previous self's writing, and he can't stop thinking about it. Addam performs Lora's knighthood ceremory the next day by giving her a medal. Amalthus and Zettar are watching at a distance; apparently, Zettar tried to resonate with Mythra first but failed, part of why he's so sour on Addam. Later, Jin talks with Azurda about Blades turning into Titans so they live alongside humans more permanently.
Addam says Torna's core is in the Titan's thorax, and that next morning they will go. He also decides that Milton and Mikhail are going to stay behind, which rather upsets Milton but he eventually agrees. Mythra notices Jin keeping a journal, which she thinks is a waste of time. As the party is about to leave the city, Malos places the stolen sphere in a receptacle in the Titan's neck, which spawns glowing feathers across its body and fully awakens it. As the place is evacuated, the party follows him into the Titan's interior and through to The Soaring Rostrum. Malos's plan is to send a lot of Gargoyles directly into the Titan's core. Mythra summons her Artifices to try and help clear them out; Ophion doesn't do much, while her Siren is countered by Malos's, and he gets to destroy a lot of Auresco. Enraged, Mythra attempts to draw out her full power, and transforming her sword into another shape, which she takes from Addam as he cannot hold it. She and Malos then enter their Sirens and fight some more, defeating Malos and destroying his Siren, but causing a lot of collateral damage to Torna. The Titan's core explodes and it starts collapsing into the sea. The King decides to go down with the ship, while Hugo is killed protecting Addam from the blast. Mythra exits the Siren, and a Mor Ardain ship carrying refugees arrives to pick up the party, with Lora returning Brighid and Aegaeon's cores to them. Mythra sees the plummet of Torna and the death of Milton, and becomes traumatized.
Returned to Gormott, Addam leaves what's left of the party for Leftheria, so he can seal the new Aegis sword in the Spirit Crucible. He asks them to find the remains of the militia in Spessia, and to tell them to follow him when ready. Mythra is now Pyra, and leaves with him. The party is now just Lora, Jin, Haze, and Mikhail. Not long after, they are attacked in the night by Gort, now a strange, horribly-mutated beast. They take care of him, and he turns to ash. In Indol, Baltrich and Rhadallis are assassinated, and Amalthus becomes Praetor, with Stannif and Zettar on his side. Addam sinks the Ancient Ship with Pyra aboard. Amalthus has Indol attack the Tornan refugees. With Lora dead and now a Flesh Eater, Jin returns to the house he found his journal, still above the sea for now, and burns it alongside the photos. Azurda watches him board the Monoceros.