Jr.

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Gaignun Kukai Jr. Rubedo
Jr. in Episode I
Species	U.R.T.V.
Gender	Male
Age	26 27 (Episode III) 12 (Appearance)
Height	140 cm
Weight	38 kg
Japanese VA	Eriko Kawasaki
English VA	Brianne Siddall
Appearances	Xenosaga Episode I Xenosaga Episode II Xenosaga Episode III Xenosaga Freaks Xenosaga I & II Xenosaga Outer File Xenosaga: The Animation

"Jr. #2" and "Jr. #4" redirect here for technical reasons. For the music pages, see Jr. 2 and Jr. 4.

Gaignun Kukai Jr. (ガイナン・クーカイ・Jr.), originally known as Rubedo (ルベド), is a playable character and one of the main protagonists in the Xenosaga series. He is the co-director of the Kukai Foundation and the commander of the Durandal.

Appearance and personality

Jr. is a young man with red hair, blue eyes and a tear-shaped earring on his left ear. The number "666" is engraved on Jr.'s left palm. In Episode I, Jr. wears a black long coat with a cross pattern on its back and a Celtic cross-like pattern on the sleeves. Underneath the coat, Jr. wears a grey t-shirt with a cross pattern on the front underneath the coat, green torn pants with yellow accents, and grey boots; when piloting an A.G.W.S., he takes off his coat. At the Kukai Foundation's beach, Jr. wore a pair of white swim trunks with blue trims. In Episode II, Jr. wears a red trench coat with a cropped red turtleneck and black shirt underneath it, yellow cowboy pants and dark red shoes, with the Swimsuit skill equipped, Jr. wears a green swim trunk, and has a red dragon tattoo on his right arm. In Episode III, Jr. wears a black jacket with a grey shirt underneath it, red and black pants and yellow and red dress shoes, his swimsuit consists of dark blue shorts, a yellow life jacket, with a whistle on his neck and a yellow visor. In his younger years, Rubedo wore a blue and white jumpsuit. Despite his appearance looking like a child, Jr. is an adult at the age of 27. Because of his short structure, Jr. is referred to as Little Master by his colleagues.

Jr. is an empathetic and friendly man, especially to those suffering under the Life Recycling Act. This was due to the guilt he felt after he abandoned his fellow U.R.T.V.s, especially his brother Albedo after the Miltian Conflict. He has zero tolerance to cruelty, and can be very vulgar if someone close to him is hurt. Jr. is also very cocky and very sarcastic, especially in battle. Due to the circumstances regarding his birth as a weapon, Jr. dislikes being referred as "Rubedo". This extends to other living beings, feeling its wrong to treat living beings as mere objects and refrains from using code names.

Story arc

History

Life at the Yuriev Institue

Rubedo was born as a conjoined twin with Albedo and as such the two have a close connection to each other. He was a Designer Child specifically designed along with the other U.R.T.V.s to be an anti-thesis to U-DO. Each of the U.R.T.V. variants have a special ability and Rubedo's is to control the growth of his body. Along with Nigredo they were involved in an experiment to access the subconscious domain of Sakura Mizrahi and were successfully able to interact with each other. Rubedo formed a friendship with Sakura and was able to communicate her feelings to her mother, Juli in the real world. He agreed to Sakura's request to protect her mother and soon to be born "sister" MOMO. As such Rubedo feels a close connection to MOMO.

Miltian Conflict

As the leader of the U.R.T.V.s, Rubedo was in charge of the operation when they tried to subdue U-DO on Miltia during the Miltian Conflict. However Rubedo panicked when witnessing the potential destruction of the planet and cut the link. This resulted in other U.R.T.V.s getting infected by U-DO and going out of control. This also happened to Albedo, who was never the same. Rubedo was eventually recovered by chaos and Canaan.

Later Life

After their rescue, Rubedo and Nigredo were taken in by Helmer, who helped them establish the Kukai Foundation. At an unknown point in time, Rubedo and Nigredo took care of a cat called Gaignun and chose to name themselves after it. While being the age of an adult, he has the physical size of a child, in contrast to the other still living U.R.T.V.s.

Episode I

Jr. first appears investigating the disappearance of Ariadne and the destroyed Woglinde via his ship the Durandal. The Durandal is come upon by a U-TIC Battleship and the two do battle, with the Durandal coming out on top. Jr. heads inside the battleship along with colleague Mary and an unnamed soldier to investigate further but are unable to come away with the enemy mainframe information they seek after it is destroyed by U-TIC soldiers.

Investigating the Zohar Emulator, Jr. ends up bringing the Durandal to the region of space where the Cathedral Ship is and is able to recover the Elsa and the party members occupying it in additon to the Zohar Emulator. Shion and the others head to the bridge to meet him. Jr. takes everyone back to the Kukai Foundation. Along the way, Jr. brings Shion and the others to the Isolation Area in the Durandal where they are storing the Zohar Emulators, as well as humans who have started turning into Gnosis. Jr. explains the origin of the Kukai Foundation to the party. Later, Jr. is seen talking to Gaignun about KOS-MOS and Shion. Jr. also sounds concerned for MOMO. Gaignun gives him a gift, a Makarov gun. Jr. hopes to cheer up Shion as well and invites her and the others to the beach within the Kukai Foundation. Shion wonders about Jr. and Gaignun's relationship and if they are brothers, father and son or clones of each other. Thinking they may split up from each other in the near future, Jr. provides MOMO with a bracelet keepsake.

When the Kukai Foundation is framed by the U-TIC Organization for destroying the Woglinde, Jr. is arrested along with the other party members and speculates that this is occurring due to the rights and legal privileges that Second Miltia has been invested with. When the party heads into the Encephalon within KOS-MOS to try and prove their innocence, Jr. is brought along with Ziggy and MOMO to the streets of Old Miltia where he sees other infected U.R.T.V.s walking by who start killing unarmed civilians. He sees Nigredo searching for him. Jr. also has a vision of himself saving Nigredo from a young Albedo. Jr. later has a vision of Albedo in a crazed state.

When a massive amount of Gnosis starts appearing Jr. orders all the civilians of the Kukai Foundation to head aboard the Durandal. When MOMO disappears and the Song of Nephilim appears, Jr. starts having a bad feeling as if he's being dragged into an abyss. JJr. feels Albedo's presence and orders the Elsa to head to the Song of Nephilim. He and Ziggy argue over who is going to rescue MOMO but head there together, with him warning the others about Albedo. Jr. still feels that this is his responsibility on his own after entering but the other party members accompany him. They come across Albedo, who is probing MOMO and a Kirschwasser who was taking on MOMO's appearance tries to strangle him. Jr. unleashes a red wave to get her off of him and grows more frustrated with Albedo, shooting at him and unleashing his Red Dragon mode. This merely knocks Albedo away from MOMO but doesn't harm him. Albedo and Jr.'s power grows stronger, but MOMO is able to break them up. With the appearance of the Blue Testament, Albedo is able to escape but Jr. and the others recover MOMO.

Albedo taunts Jr. as he resurrects the Proto Merkabah. Jr. and the others head into Proto Merkabah in order to stop him. At the core of Proto Merkabah Jr. questions Albedo on why he is doing what he's doing. Albedo claims to be doing it for Jr.'s sake and asks if he has forgotten what he did to him and the other U.R.T.V.s when he severed the mental link to them 14 years prior causing them to succumb to the Song of Nephilim. Jr. admits to not being able to control his fear. Albedo departs, forcing Jr. and the others to defeat the Gnosis formed with the reactor. Jr. escapes along with the others to the Elsa which makes its way to Second Miltia.

Episode II

At the start of the game Jr. arrives at Second Miltia along with the others. They are pursued by Richard and Hermann, and eventually Pellegri, who hope to seize MOMO. Jr. takes part in fighting them off, and Canaan eventually arrives to help out on E.S. Asher. Afterwards, Jr. accompanies chaos to the Moby Dick's Cafe where they encounter Shion and then Jin. Jr. accompanies them to the Uzuki Residence where he is excited to see all the books that Jin has gathered. Later, Jr. takes part in the operation to dive into MOMO's subconscious to access the Y-Data. Before hand he talks with Juli, concerned about the way she is treating MOMO. When it is revealed that Albedo has left a trap within MOMO's subconscious, Jr. and the others dive into the subconscious themselves. While there, Albedo manipulates Jr. to increase his anger, causing MOMO to awaken such that Albedo can seize the Y-Data and open the seal to Old Miltia. As Albedo fades away, Jr. feels a pain in his heart where he and Albedo used to be connected.

Jr. takes part in an operation to head down to Old Miltia to try and acquire the Zohar before the Immigrant Fleet is able to. At this point he takes the lead on piloting Asher, which was previously piloted by Canaan and chaos. After Old Miltia is destroyed and becomes the Ω System, Jr. is contacted by the recently revived Dmitri Yuriev. Jr. is shocked and angry to see that his "father" has returned. Yuriev tells him to eliminate Albedo. Albedo appears at the Ω System when Jr. and the others confront Sergius, and Albedo is disintegrated by Proto Omega's cannon. Jr. is upset by this, saying only he can take Albedo out. After Sergius is killed by the Testaments, Albedo is revived and links with U-DO, forming the Space-Time Anomaly. Jr. decides to head into the Space-Time Anomaly to have one final confrontation with Albedo. He speaks with Ziggy and MOMO, and then heads inside on his own in Asher.

While in the Space-Time Anomaly, Jr. is confronted by various visions of Albedo as a child, as well as Albedo attacking Sakura, which are intended to make him more angry. Jr. eventually comes upon Albedo for real and they battle one another, with Jr. defeating and killing him. While victorious, Jr. is still sad about Albedo losing his life and leaving him, feeling as if he's lost half his body. Jr. is picked up by chaos and returned back to the Durandal where he reunites with the others. In the epilogue of the game it is revealed that Jr. has found an albino dog which he calls Alby.

Episode III

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Lore

• As a cover story, Jr. is the adopted son of Gaignun Kukai and have him as born in the year T.C. 4755 instead of his actual birth year of 4740.
• Much like Gaignun, Jr. got his name from a cat of the same name.
• Jr. enjoys collecting antique text and literature, as well as guns from those time periods.

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As a playable character

Episode I

Main article: Jr./Gameplay (XS1)

Episode II

Main article: Jr./Gameplay (XS2)

Episode III

Main article: Jr./Gameplay (XS3)

Xenosaga I & II

Main article: Jr./Gameplay (XS1&2)

Database

Episode I

Jr.

Gaignun Kukai Jr., director of Kukai Foundation.

His hobby is collecting ancient text and literature, as well as ancient (relative to his time period) weapons.

The official records state that he was born in T.C. 4755 and is the adopted son of Gaignun Kukai.

Jr. (2)

BORN: T.C. 4740
AGE: 26 years old

One of the surviving U.R.T.V. units, he is a human specially "created" as an antithesis to U-DO, the living consciousness which jeopardized the Galaxy Federation in the past.

His relationship to Albedo and Gaignun Sr. shall be revealed in further detail, in subsequent episodes.

Rubedo

In Psychology and Alchemy (1944), C.G. Jung refers to rubedo, or "reddening," as one stage in the process of human individuation as symbolized in alchemic terms.

A nickname for U.R.T.V. Unit #666 (Jr.), who unlike the other units, has bright red hair.

Apparently Jr. got his name because he is physically smaller in stature than Gaignun, hence "Gaignun Jr."

Episode III

Jr.

A URTV created as an U-DO anti-existence.

A survivor of the URTVs--the special group of people created based on data collected from U-DO, the discarnate entity that threatened the Galaxy Federation in the past, in order to be its anti-existence. His official name is URTV unit number 666, Rubedo.

He was born from the same embryo as URTV unit number 667, Albedo.

He has the ability to activate the special anti-UDO waveform mode Red Dragon, which causes mutual destruction upon contact with U-DO. In order to contain that dual-edged power, Jr. has half-subconsciously halted the development of his own body. However, as this mutual destruction extends only to Jr. and the observational terminal part of U-DO, from a cost-benefit perspective, his powers cannot be called a complete anti-U-DO solution.

It is difficult to think that Dmitri, having personally experienced direct contact with U-DO, would have created the URTVs without realizing this. Perhaps it is more likely that Jr. and his kind were created out of a need to accumulate data before Dmitri could ascend to an existence equivalent to U-DO.

In fact, Dmitri, who began monitoring Albedo's subconscious through Canaan, obtained the Y-Data, revived the relic of God, and proceeded to the Ark in order to become His kin.

Jr. was able to reunite with Albedo through Gaignun's sacrifice. Although objectively his condition became that of two minds inhabiting a single body, his relationship with Albedo is like the two sides of a single being.

It is possible that their minds were originally one and the same, due to their birth as conjoined twins. Perhaps Gaignun's actions were not simply out of self-sacrifice, but were motivated by that knowledge and the desire to restore the two of them to their rightful form.

Rubedo

URTV unit number 666.

URTV unit number 666. Jr.'s name during his time with the URTVs. Named for the alchemical process of reddening.

The name Rubedo was given to him by Dmitri Yuriev in order to aid his self-awareness; Rubedo, unlike most URTVs, was a variant with a distinct personality. Because of this, Jr. hates being addressed by this name.

See Jr.

URTV Unit Number 666

URTV unit number 666 [Rubedo]

The 666th variant URTV to be born at the Yuriev Institute. Because he was born with red hair, he was named Rubedo, a name taken from C.G. Jung's "Psychology and Alchemy", in which "rubedo" refers to the process of a substance turning red. He was born a conjoined twin, his back attached to unit number 667, Albedo.

Rubedo was the first variant URTV to be born at the Institute and possessed a much stronger anti-U-DO waveform than standard URTVs. He united the URTVs as a leader figure.

As children, his younger brother Albedo never left his side. Rubedo watched over him with kindness at times and discipline at others. However, their relationship turned disastrous when the URTV force faced U-DO, and Rubedo foresaw Miltia and the URTV's future.

Understanding everything, Rubedo cut off the mental link between the URTVs, fearful that his existence would be erased. As a result, the standard URTVs and Albedo became infected by U-DO. To this day, Rubedo is tormented by guilt for having cut off the mental link.

Freaks

Jr.

クーカイ・ファウンデーションの代表理事。デュランダルの指揮をとる。

T.C.4755年生まれの12歳（公称）。U.R.T.V.個体ナンバー666番。ルベド（赤）の名を持つ。星団連邦ミルチア自治州に属する特殊財団、クーカイ・ファウンデーション代表理事。通称、ちび様。常に戦いの先頭に立ち、リーダーシップを発揮するが、感情に流されやすく衝動的な行動に走る面もある。趣味は古式銃収集。時には詩を詠み情緒的感傷を好むこともある。ミルチア紛争時、ウ・ドゥの暴走に恐怖して心を閉ざしたことにより他のU.R.T.V.との精神連鎖が断絶し、U.R.T.V.に狂気を引き起こした。ガイナン・クーカイと念話ができる。モモに苦しみを与えた自分の暗部、アルベドを追い続ける。

Jr.

President of the Kukai Foundation. He directs the Durandal.

Born T.C. 4755, (nominal) age 12. U.R.T.V. unit number 666. Bears the name Rubedo (Red). He is the president of the Kukai Foundation, a special foundation belonging to the Galaxy Federation Government's autonomous region of Miltia. His nickname is Chibi-sama (Little Master). Although he always takes the vanguard in combat and demonstrates sublime leadership, he can also be easily swayed by his emotions and acts on impulse. His hobby is collecting antique firearms. Sometimes he writes poetry, and enjoys sentimentalism. During the Miltian Conflict, he closed off his mind in fear of U-DO's violence, severing his psychic link with the other U.R.T.V.s which caused them to go insane. He can communicate telepathically with Gaignun Kukai. He continues to pursue Albedo, the dark part of him who caused MOMO to suffer.

ルベド

Jr.のこと。

C.G.ユング「心理学と錬金術」からの引用で、錬金術における「赤化」のプロセスを指す。意味合いとしては「赤」に近い言葉として使っている。U.R.T.V.個体ナンバー666番。Jr.の愛称ということになるが、Jr.自身はこの名前で呼ばれることを非常に嫌っている。

Rubedo

About Jr.

Derived from "Psychology and Alchemy" by C.G. Jung, referring to the alchemical process of "reddening". In terms of meaning, it is used as a word similar to "red". U.R.T.V. unit number 666. It is Jr.'s sobriquet, but Jr. himself hates being addressed by this name.

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
English	Jr.	—
Japanese	Jr.	—
French	Jr.	—
German	Jr.	—

Language	Name	Meaning
English	Gaignun Kukai Jr.	—
Japanese	ガイナン・クーカイ・Jr.	Gaignun Kukai Jr.

Language	Name	Meaning
English	Rubedo	—
Japanese	ルベド	Rubedo

Gallery

Main article: Jr./Gallery

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  Episode I render artwork

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  Episode II artwork

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  Episode II artwork

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  Episode II special artwork

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  Episode III artwork

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  Episode III 2D artwork.

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  Episode III Chibi artwork.

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  Episode I & II artwork.

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  Episode I & II artwork, with Albedo and Nigredo included.

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  Official calendar wallpaper showing Jr. in Xenosaga I & II