Elhaym "Elly" Van Houten is a character from Xeno Series, she makes her debut on Xenogears as the main protagonist alongside Fei Fong Wong.
Story[]
Creation and Past Lives[]
In T.C. 4767, Abel was on a spaceship called the Eldridge searching for his missing mother. The Wave Existence, using Kadomony, sensed Abel's desire and created a woman. After the Eldridge crashed due to Deus' awakening, Abel was the only survivor.
Elehayym then split into two existences - one was called Elehaymm and the other was called Myyah Hawwa. Because of this, both Myyah and Elehayym can be seen as the mother of all humanity in the E.C. era.
Together with Elehayym, or Elly as he had come to call her, Abel lived during the first years of human life on the Xenogears planet. When Cain, Myyah and the Gazel Ministry began laying down the foundations of what would be all their various control mechanisms in the developing human culture, Abel and Elly, now grown adults stepped forward and challenged them. Abel, having known the real truth of the matter and being the only true human on the planet was able to see through Cain's lies and called him on them in front of the whole world. Cain responded by murdering both him and Elly to silence them.
Both Abel and Elly were continuously reincarnated through the Zohar Modifier by the will and power of the Wave Existence until the year 9999 when Fei Fong Wong and Elehayym Van Houten were born. Elly is also the Antitype in this incarnation of Fei's life, just as she has been throughout the centuries on the planet (Abel's companion, Kim Kasim's wife Elly during the Zeboim era, the Great Mother Sophia, etc.).
Elhaym Van Houten[]
Elly was born to Medena and Erich Van Houten in 9981 in Solaris. Like her parents, Elly was also subjected to Solaris' brainwashing, mind control and anti-Lamb propaganda, being told by her society that Lambs are inferior people. At Jugend Military Academy, she was taught that Lambs were "stupid" and "base".
Despite Elly being a Solarian and the daughter of one of the Empire's most decorated officers, her red hair and blue-violet eyes somewhat separates her from other Solarians, who are mostly blond-haired and blue-eyed. Elly feels ashamed for not possessing blonde hair, and because Lambs are prone to not having blonde-hair, she believes she is half-Solarian, half-Lamb.
For a time, Elly thought her mother Medena was not the woman her father married, and that her childhood nanny, a Lamb, was actually her real mother. This fact of her life was a mark of ridicule by some people of Solaris, including Elly's former comrade in the Elements, Dominia Yizkor. It's only toward the midpoint of the game that Elly learns that her appearance is due to her being the Antitype, and finally accepts that Medena is her real biological mother.
In 9994, Elly joined the Jugend Military Academy.
About a year prior to the game (9998), Elly was given a dose of Drive against her will as part of both an experiment and standard Jugend procedure to test all graduate. When the drugs took affect, her powers as the Antitype temporarily awakened and she lashed out in berserk self-defense, killing two of her fellow students and injuring three more. She came to surrounded by blood, causing her significant guilt going forward. This event prevented her from becoming an Element, a position she otherwise qualified for due to her high Ether capabilities.
She would still manage to attain a position as a lieutenant within Gebler.
Xenogears[]
Elly was leading an operation to steal a top-secret experiment Gear from the rival country Kislev, but was forced to flee from Kislev soldiers/Gears and, as a result, crash-landed in Lahan Village.
Her encounter with Fei in the Blackmoon Forest changes her life forever. Elly approaches Fei at gunpoint and orders him to surrender in her language. However, when she realizes Fei can't comprehend her, she switches to his language: the language of the Lambs. Fei struggles to find a reason to live and considers suicide after Elly calls him a coward responsible for the villager's deaths, but ultimately refrains.
When Fei blames Kislev for the massacre in Lahan, Elly is annoyed and calls him out, essentially telling him to grow up, act like an adult, and take some responsibility for the blame: that he was, to some extent, responsible for the deaths since he jumped into the Gear and started fighting in it in the middle of the village, despite not knowing how to fully operate it. Yet she admits later to herself and to Citan Uzuki that she was the one avoiding blame as the incident in Lahan was also her fault due to landing her Gear near the town that kickstarted the fight, and luring Kislev to Lahan. Elly leaves Fei to return to her country's headquarters and military.
Fei eventually reunites with Elly during the assault on Nortune, Kislev. Elly is an optimist and wants to help Fei, despite the fact that he is a Lamb, and she cannot leave the military. Elly eventually decides to leave the Solaris military during the attack on Nortune, and she realizes killing, violence, horror, and war isn't her thing.
In order to escape the Kislev Empire, Fei's group decides to steal the airplane "Goliath" in the Goliath Factory. They do so, however, Fei and Elly are separated from the rest of the party when the Goliath sinks into the sea after being accidentally shot down by Bart Fatima's ship.
Elly and Fei are rescued by the Thames, a movable floating city ship. After learning Elly's whereabouts, Gebler attempts to kidnap Elly. Myyah Hawwa, a Gebler officer, unsuccessfully brainwashes her. Myyah also calls Elly's eyes "beautiful". Elly eventually returns to the party.
Much later, in her home country Solaris, Elly shows Fei around Etrenank and Solaris and she acts as a language translator for him. She introduces Fei to her parents at her 1st Class Gazel home which is a luxurious mansion, a stark contrast to the small pods the 3rd Class worker bee slaves have.
When Erich catches Elly and Fei trying to find information about their friends in his room, he and Elly argue, causing Fei to leave their home in order to spare Elly from being arrested as a traitor.
While Fei is gone, Elly is visited in her room by Medena, who feels that Elly should live her life the way she wishes, and that if her loved ones are in danger, she can't abandon them. As Elly leaves her room, she is met by Erich, who declares his belief that being human means being able to pick your path in life, an aspect of free will.
When Erich hears the arrival of soldiers, he is surprised when, instead of the military police, the Imperial Guard has arrived. Stating that the intruder had 'fled', Erich is alarmed to learn that Karellen, one of Solaris' rulers, had ordered Elly be taken into custody. Putting his rank as a 1st class citizen and possibly his life on the line, Erich holds back the soldiers, allowing Elly to escape.
Rejoining Fei and Citan as they delve into the military sectors of Solaris, they learn the horrifying truth of the Soylent System, as well as discover various party members' genetic data on display. As they go in deeper, they are seemingly betrayed by Citan.
Elly is taken into Karellen's private lab, where she confronts a deranged Kahran Ramsus demanding to know where Fei is. When Fei and the party comes in to help her escape, it is revealed that Citan's betrayal was his means of rescuing the rest of the party.
Regrouping with Elly's parents, Elly and the rest of the party make their way to the hanger. Just as they arrive, Hammer takes Elly hostage. Medena manages to get Elly free, but is fatally shot in the process. Grahf and Executioner then arrive, forcing Erich to confront them in his mech. As his mech is destroyed by Executioner, Erich declares that Elly is his and Medena's child, no matter what.
Later, Fei and Elly are chased by Ramsus and are struck down. Mortally wounded, they are rescued by Taura Melchior. After a period of three weeks, Fei and Elly are healed by Taura and his nanotechnology.
When her faith in Solaris is shaken, Elly must find her own path in life and pursue her goals without the backing of her family or Solaris. Everyone regroups and Elly and Emeralda go to the Mass Driver Facility to release the Limiters of everyone on the planet. However, in doing so, some turn into Wels.
Back on the surface, Fei and Elly work together to put an end to the Soylent System slaughterhouses. The Wels divide themselves into the 'haves' and 'have nots', and some even resort to cannibalism due to their desire for flesh and meat. At one point, Sophia resonates with Elly and comforts the mutated Wels (Reapers) in a Soylent System facility, begging them not to lose the shreds of human dignity they have left. All the people that had been mutated were taken in by Nisan where they received treatment.
Elly stays behind and assists Nisan for her own safety. Karellen seeks to possess Elly, the Mother, who must be sacrificed in order to revive Deus. In Nisan, Elly senses that Fei is in danger, which is confirmed when Karellen sends a message, saying that if she wants to save Fei and his group, she must go to Golgoda. Elly does so and defeats Mugwort and Rattan, but is kidnapped by Karellen. Karellen lets Fei and his allies go, knowing they will come back to rescue her.
In Merkava, the party finds Karellen and Myyah waiting for them as well as an unconscious Elly, bound on a cross in front of Deus's massive form. Karellan explains that Elly, as the Mother, must be sacrificed in order to revive Deus. As the party struggles to free Elly, Ramsus arrives, and, goaded by Myyah about how she used him, kills Myyah.
As Fei frees Elly, a gunshot is heard. As Fei slumps back against Citan it is revealed that Elly is the who shot Fei. As her hair color, facial expression, and choice of words change, the party realizes that Elly has turned into the next incarnation of Myyah. After revealing the truth about Deus's nature and its coming plans for humanity, Elly/Myyah becomes absorbed by Deus. The party is forced to retreat as Merkava raises into the sky, firing a red beam of destruction on the land below.
Fei sets out to destroy Deus and free the Wave Existence and Elly. The party defeats Deus, but they realize that the energy released from the Wave Existence's shift will destroy the planet. Elly, inside Deus, tries to move it away from the planet and Fei, in his Xenogears, follows to save her, but both disappear in the rift. Karellen confronts them, telling Fei he only sought to end the pain and suffering that comes with human existence by reverting everything back to when it all began, when all was one, to ascend to the realm of God. Fei rejects Karellen's ideology with his love for Elly, but Karellen challenges Fei, telling him to prove this love that could make him independent of God, and calls forth Urobolus, a gigantic serpent-like incarnation of Myyah. Xenogears appears and Fei uses it to defeat Urobolus.
Karellen releases Elly and reveals to Fei that he had planned to become one with God along with Elly. During her time with Karellen, Elly had seen inside his heart and realized it was full of sadness and despair for all the atrocities he had committed. Despite everything, Elly says that Karellen truly loved people more than anyone else. Because no one will forgive his sins, he declines Fei's offer to return and ascends to a higher plane of existence along with the Wave Existence, telling Fei and Elly that he envies them. Fei and Elly then return to their planet along with Xenogears and reunite with the rest of the party.
Crossover Appearances[]
Project X Zone 3: Sacred Destinies[]
Elly appears as a Solo Unit.
Divine X Union[]
Elhaym appears as a Pair Unit teamming up with Fei Fong Wong.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the introduction of the game, Shigeyoshi Inoue looks at a photo of his apparent family. The girl in it strongly resembles Elly.
- Elly is symbolic of Anima, which is why one of her incarnations is named Sophia after the Jungian names for Anima. The names are, in order from low Anima to high Anima: Eve, Helen, Mary, and Sophia.
- Elly is the only party member who retains her Japanese battle cries in the English version of Xenogears.
- When Elly talks about her and Fei becoming "one flesh", this is likely a Biblical allusion to Genesis 2:24.
- Elly has a strong resemblance to Nephilim Verum in Xenosaga, and it is possible Nephilim is the Xenosaga equivalent of Elly, set in an alternate universe - possibly one of the alternate universes Wilhelm created from Eternal Recurrence. Nephilim also has a relationship with Abel in Xenosaga. In the Japanese versions of both games, Nephilim and Elly share the same voice actor.
- Her English voice actress, Moira Quirk is best known for portraying as a referee in Nickelodeon's Guts and for her role as Daniella from Haunting Ground.