Pyra

Pyra (Japanese: ホムラ, Homura; English dub: /ˈpaɪ(ə)rə/) is one of the female protagonists in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. She is the Aegis, a Legendary Blade who can grant tremendous fire-elemental power to her Driver, Rex. Pyra and Rex embark on a journey to search for Elysium, and Rex is devoted to protecting her. Due to sharing her life force with Rex, Pyra is not able to recover from injuries like other Blades, and is as vulnerable to damage as any other human. If either of the two were to die, the other would follow.

Personality Pyra is a very kind-hearted, mild-mannered, soft spoken young woman who desires peace among both Blades and Drivers. Despite being gentle around people, she is not afraid to fight to protect those she cares about.

Pyra is usually seen to be very doubtful of her worth and considers herself to be a burden and a danger to others. Due to this, she originally wants to go to Elysium alongside Mythra to ask the Architect for their death, which they could normally not obtain due to their condition as Blades.

Pyra is also a very talented cook, and can easily produce delicious food, while Mythra is not good at cooking, despite enjoying doing so, people generally dislike the food she prepares and it angers her.

Appearance Pyra is a young woman with fiery red hair that she styles into a neck-length hair and red eyes. Green ether lines can be seen running through her body when using her power. After resonating with Rex, Pyra's emerald crucifix-shaped Core Crystal loses its center, leaving a X-shape mark behind.

Pyra wears short red and black armor with gold and green ornamentation. She also wears black fingerless gloves, armored red high-neck short sleeved top and matching thigh-high boots, red short-shorts, a long multicoloured reverse drape scarf-like cape and a golden tiara. According to her designer, her back is unclothed to show her vulnerability, and her arm/leg armor opposes Mythra's (Pyra's legs are covered but her arms are not, where Mythra's arms are covered but her legs are not) to convey that they are incomplete without each other (furthered by Pneuma, who has no bare skin showing beyond her face).

Pyra's weapon is a large, jagged red blade which emits flame-like ether energy when activated.

Story Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Creation Pyra was created in the immediate aftermath of the Aegis War, when Mythra became overcome by grief due to her part in the destruction of Auresco; she transformed into Pyra, sealing her Aegis power beneath the second personality. Pyra's driver, Addam, placed Pyra in stasis under the Cloud Sea in order to prevent her from being reawakened and losing control as Mythra did. Addam hoped that when humanity was deemed worthy to wield her power, the Aegis would return and bring them salvation.

Awakening Pyra remains in stasis for 500 years, until Torna discovers the location of the Ancient Ship and send a salvaging team to haul it up. This team includes Rex, a Leftherian boy, who touches Pyra's sword accidentally upon discovering her, forcing Jin to kill him. As Rex has touched the sword, Pyra is able to talk to him through in a memory of Elysium, and she asks him if he will become her Driver and take her to Elysium. Rex agrees and is resurrected with part of Pyra's Core Crystal sustaining his heart, and the two fight their way off the ship, escaping Torna with the help of Azurda.

Azurda is gravely injured in the escape and reverts to a larval form, after which he speaks briefly to Pyra, recognizing her as Mythra's counterpart. The group travels to Torigoth, where they are attacked by Brighid, meet Tora and his artificial Blade Poppi, rescue Nia and defeat Dughall. All of this is caused by Pyra being recognized as the Aegis, the strongest Blade and responsible for the destruction of three Titans, by her unique green core crystal.

After escaping Torigoth, Rex reiterates his intention to take Pyra to Elysium. The quickest way is to take a Titan ship and sail to the base of the World Tree directly, and so they do, but upon nearing the Tree the party is attacked by the Artifice Ophion, a huge serpentine machine. 500 years ago, Ophion was an Artifice under the control of Mythra, but Pyra discovers she cannot control Ophion and thus the party is forced to retreat - directly into the maw of the Titan Uraya, who swallows their ship whole and leaves them stranded in its (inhabited) digestive tract.

On their way through Uraya, Vandham, a mercenary Driver, runs across the party and attacks them to test Rex's skills as a Driver. Pyra realizes that Vandham means them no harm during the fight but Rex does not, and he overexerts her power, leaving them both defenseless. Vandham tells Rex off, thanks him for the chance to fight a legend such as the Aegis, and lets them stay in Garfont Village with him. During this time they are attacked by Akhos and Obrona, two members of Torna seeking to abduct Pyra, and although the pair are beaten Rex and Pyra both sustain injuries - even though Blades should be able to heal instantly. Vandham realizes that Pyra and Rex and sharing wounds due to their shared core crystal, and thus if Rex dies, Pyra will too.

Vandham subsequently escorts the party to Fonsa Myma where they meet Cole. Pyra knows Cole as Minoth, a Flesh Eater who fought alongside Mythra during the Aegis War, and Cole suggests that his Driver Amalthus may know how to reach the World Tree. During their stay in Fonsa Myma, Cole's adopted granddaughter Iona is kidnapped by Malos, who sends Pyra a telepathic message instructing her to meet him alone in the Olethro Ruins. Without waking her companions, Pyra leaves to save Iona.

Mythra Upon realizing what has happened, the party rushes to help Pyra but struggle to fight due to Obrona's ability to destabilize ether connections, rendering Blade weapons useless. Rex overexerts his power again but is saved by Vandham, who impales himself on Roc's twin scythes in order to reroute the ether flow through his own body. He fights Malos himself, giving Rex time to flee, but Rex fails to do so - Vandham dies in the fight and Mythra is forced to awaken, using Siren to destroy Obrona and Sever and rout Akhos and Malos. Furious at having been made to use Siren and break the seal on her power, Mythra tells Rex off and returns to being Pyra, who apologizes for Mythra's behavior and explains their past, Malos' motives, and that Mythra and Pyra can talk to each other and view each other as sisters.

Given time Mythra becomes more active, and is active through most of Mor Ardain. After this, she and Pyra switch readily in gameplay and story.

Whilst headed to Indol to visit Amalthus, the party stops in the Leftherian Archipelago, where Rex was brought up. He brings Pyra to his parents' graves, introducing her and his mission to them. Rex's aunt Corinne suggests that Pyra may marry Rex, as Blades often marry their Drivers, which flusters Pyra greatly.

Zeke accosts the party for the third time, although reveals now that he is not merely a Driver looking to wield the Aegis for himself but instead an envoy for Indol sent to test the Aegis' power. He is also the crown prince of the Kingdom of Tantal, and after Amalthus directs them there to get past Ophion, Zeke brings the party to his father. The King abducts Pyra and attempts to destroy her, mistaking her presence as a threat from Indol, but she is saved at the last minute by the party, who cause the massive cannon intended to kill Pyra to disrupt the Titan Genbu itself. The party rushes to the Omega Fetter, which is the original control unit of Ophion, and Mythra fixes it to prevent Genbu from diving deep enough to kill everyone in Tantal.

Pneuma Malos and Jin take Pyra to the Cliffs of Morytha, where Malos enters her mind and steals her memories in order to regain his full strength. In theory this leaves Pyra a husk, essentially a body with no mind, although in practice it doesn't seem to do her any damage at all. The party come to rescue Pyra and fight Jin and Malos in spite of knowing that Pyra has been emptied and that Jin is able to defeat them alone. Rex fights without an Aegis sword and as he does so he sees both Pyra and Mythra, who tell him that he should leave them to die, as that is why they wanted to get to Elysium anyway. Rex insists that he is fighting for them, and his resolution and understanding of both of them allows him to access the power that Addam could not - and Pneuma awakens, unharmed, to fight at Rex's side.

Pneuma's fight causes the party to fall into the ruins of Morytha itself, where the party save Jin, travel the ruins of the Architect's civilization, find the corpse of the Tornan Titan, and begin to ascend the World Tree. At the top of the Tree they find Elysium - a barren, dusty wasteland with the ruins of a city, contrary to Pyra's memories. The church bell that has always tolled in Pyra's memories stops as they approach the church, and as they descend into it, the party is split into their own minds, going over confrontational interactions with each other that explore timelines that could have been. Rex winds up in a house with Pyra and Mythra, who are acting opposite to their usual characters, and when Rex begins to cry Pyra asks that the Architect stop, as he was testing the party's true nature.

The party fight and kill Malos, and Pneuma uses Aion to save Alrest from the debris of the World Tree as it collapses, letting her companions escape and accepting her death from the resulting explosion.

After Pneuma's sacrifice and the rebirth of the world, Pneuma's core crystal begins to glow in Rex's hand. He resonates with it again and in a brilliant pillar of light both Pyra and Mythra reawaken in separate bodies.