Yeah, most people don't even know theres' 2 books and 1 comic in the universe (granted of those only the first one - XCOM 2 Resurrection) is of good quality, the others.. Let's just say I am quite sure writer of Escalation never played X2, and Factions (comic) can be summed up as Call of Duty: XCOM
@@FratoiuAlex You can. Technically there is a Zhang Voice pack among the mods on the Steam Workshop too. Idk about Annette but if there isn't a voice mod, you can stuck her with any of the French voice lines. Edit: i found out there is an Annette voice pack mod too, both in English with french accent and Spanish (my region). Sad there isn't a Zhang voice pack in Spanish either.
I’ve always thought that the 3 gifted people in the alien battleship are the chosen, as one is a male sniper, being the hunter, another a female assault, being the assassin, and the last one a male support, being the warlock, especially as their dialogue points to them once being human. Also that mission can only happen after the base defence, which adds to my theory.
I have heard of a theory, that Exalt is Xcom. in short: Enemy Within is a simulation for the commander, where the aliens use the contender's knowledge to hunt down Xcom. All cred goes to Doctor Dex.
I've heard that one too. That all of EW is a simulation while the Commander is in stasis. It's believable, and there are so many odd similarities between what XCOM does with Meld, and what the Elders do with the human/alien splicing. Interesting theory.
@@ghostblaster115 I think YT swallowed up my previous responce, so: There's 4 places generally where you can find discussions on XCOM's lore, and which do research the lore further: 1) XCOM reddit 2) Cello's server 3) The Viper pit (server for writers and readers of xcom fics) 4) Warwolf (that's me) / Kektopod's XCOM RP servers
yes you are right in xcom 2 when the commander is recovered, they extract a chip from his brain when the chip is decrypted the data contain millions of war scenarios where the commander is fighting against the aliens
Very nice video, but I'm surprised you didn't mention the fact that the EXALT bandana is a clothing option in XCOM 2, meaning some of their members joined up with XCOM, even if it's probably a "enemy of my enemy" situation.
I thought about it but those seem more like references than anything concrete. There is also the EW is a simulation theory that explains why Exalt uses those colours.
I'm not entirely convinced XCOM fell during the first base defense based on the commanders memories from XCOM 2's intro during Bradford narration after they broke the commander out it includes the mother ship wich only would have appeared after the overseer ufo got shot down which only would have happened after the base defense and Bradford himself said he hasn't seen an Ethereal since the invasion likely that being the Ethereal that was on the overseer ufo in which during that time Annette and Zhang could have been on board at base I personally believe they got far enough to have the mothership appear but fell not long after as for exalt I think they may have just gone back into hiding since they've clearly been around for a long time as far back as the Spartans I think I'm going off what you can get from the exalt base raid but even with this there is too little information about the original invasion so we can only really theorize but that is the fun part
I believe the Temple Ship showed itself around April in X2 timeline, as to speed up the capture of the world, and finally break the will of the defenders. In Avenger Assemble, Shen points out that they thought "Delta - pattern transport UFOs" (Avenger class) was the largest aliens had, initially (and since Battleships would have been known early on in X2 invasion, the only thing bigger (and not immediately known) is the TS). Bradford's line in opening is also telling "We had no idea what was coming" - as the TS is shown. My headcannon is that it appeared after some major setback experienced by aliens at the hands of XCOM - which both pissed off Ethereals enough to finally play the full deck and send all the ships into the fray, and to make XCOM - and the Commander a priority target to capture. Possibly it was a loss of a battlship, or something of similar high value to the invaders.
You know, Annette could be one of the Templars and Ghuist could be one of the fresh recruits for the new and still growing psionic trooper program and Annette was the first, but not perfected. While Zhang could have slipped out and manage to survive the initial invasion or meet X-com to be conscripted out of needing people with resourcefulness and skill. In the fog of war and the logs of the old world that is a story for another time.
I remember loving both of these soldiers in my play through of Xcom EW and the missions that came with them and I always loved how Exalt wasn’t directly aligned with the Elders. I really do hope in Xcom 3 they at least elude to some of the events in EW might have happened.
Furies certainly existed in X2 timeline, as there is a rumour called Furies in X2, with the pods with the occupants having been opened, suggesting they escaped and are out of aliens' control.
I think everything in Xcom: Enemy Within is canon including the ending. Realistically the ending is not the end of the war and it's entirely possible that the raid on XCOM HQ was done in a counterattack after the ending. The Volunteer is confirmed alive by a developer so it's entirely possible they were recruited by the Aliens and revealed the location of XCOM HQ. I also like to think the remnants of EXALT became ADVENT and built an alliance with the Aliens considering ADVENT have a heavy reliance on genetically modified humans and EXALT would obviously love that.
Geist was a soldier with psionic aptitude in XCOM in 2015, who was in the middle of some sort of procedure as the base was attacked, he barely got out, confused and with concussion and memory loss, and scoured the world for some time before founding the Templars.
Exalt doesnt exist: After the attack on the base, the commander was put into a battle simulator, and run through an untold number of scenarios. Exalt's similarities to Xcom suggest that, in the simulations, you were actually fighting Xcom, and the simulator made rhem look like Exalt memebers.
Thanks for covering the lore of these characters that don't get alot of attention. As someone who first was introduced to the series via this game. I approached it
This is pretty awesome! I'm a fan of Xcom's playable characters Like Zhang and Jane ^^ might I recommend checking out RustyDios UFOpedia & Beastiary mod for some other Fans/Modders perspective? Also is it ok if you can share the character file's on these versions of Annette and Zhang? ^^;;
Honestly, i found sad that there isn't special soldier "Zhang" like happen with Van Doorn or the guy from the Bureau or even the devs, you can change the name of the soldier and automatically everything change like a "hidden cheat". The only good side is some modders make a Zhang Voice pack mod, and the rest yo can fill in with the ingame customizations so you can match a closer appearance of Zhang in game. I made my own as a recruitable version of Zhang among the character pool (or one you can have right at the start of the game in Gatecrasher), much older with the same scars, hair and voice (thanks to the voice pack), only difference is he is sporting some round sunglasses because they looks cool on him.
Damn. I wish I got to experience this. I played xcom EW on mobile and apparently this content isn’t in that version (no way to buy DLCs). It would’ve been rly cool to play the mission to free the psi operatives. I was always wondering whether I’d get a mission explaining why the base attack happened and I guess I now have my answer 😅
imagine the reaction of a fan of the game when (after so much suffering) he finished XCOM enemy unknown/within when the second game came out saying that humanity lost in 2 months and none of the events of the previous games were decanonized, making hours of game and lore simply be erased
My headcanon is that Annette joined Xcom but was killed and her 3 compatriots became the Chosen. After all you have 1 shotgun wielding woman, 1 sniper man, and 1 assault rifle wielding support man. Assuming its not a coincidence that the furies were 3 extremely psionically gifted people who's preferred weaponry perfectly lines up to the Chosen, and who were part of a unique experiment the aliens conducted, then the fact that Annette isn't one of them implies she wasn't taken by the aliens on Deluge due to lack of Xcom resistance, but rather died fighting for Xcom. In fairness i am not sure if there is some tiny tidbit of lore that explains that Annette was captured, but died or became irrelevant, but from what ive read it seems very possible.
I like the theory but there are canon origins to the three Chosen. Warlock was a psionic user who was picked up by the Elders after they won. Hunter was rumoured to be a Reaper who was tortured and brainwashed into becoming the Hunter. And the Assassin was actually created from a combination of the other chosen and the elders. They were more meant to parallel the three resistance factions of Templar, Hunter, and Skirmishers.
People with ideas reminscent to X EW exalt (Exploit alien arrival) certainly would have went into Advent structures. Likely some of them worked with the Black Market in X2. Also CS does hint that Exalt 2.0 or similar organization is active after Ethereal's defeat.
Actually, all that stuff DID happen. In the canon, XCOM did win the base assault. XCOM 2 and Chimera Squad are actually 'What if?' scenarios. What if the aliens won? What if the aliens became friendly after defeating the Elders? That's what those two games are, therefore, not canonical. There is also the theory that in XCOM 2 WotC the 'Furies' have become the Chosen. I mean, if you think about it, it makes sense. There is a video about here on TH-cam, I recommend giving it a watch.
Anyone who know the truth is part of xcom or gone. - Xcom declassified The only way to not be a puppet is to be the puppet master. Exalt intention in xcom was to tank the invasion and let the aliens have their fun. Once the dust settle and the aliens runs out of adrenaline Exalt would sweep the aliens with their own weapons.
if you want to live the xcom EW truly experience, play the game on classic difficult, no laser weapons, no plasma weapons, only human weapons, no high armor, only use human technology, and watch how you long survive, oh obviously, no mecha, no psionic powers, why this, in xcom 2 the lore never mentions that xcom never develop that kind of weapons or armors
XCOM Legends was a bad game, but it did have a bunch of characters, some tying back to XCOM 2 and even EXALT of 1, too bad they didn't explore characters like Zhang and Annette.
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There truly is not enough Xcom lore out there. It’s nice to see someone giving what little there is the attention it deserves.
Yeah, most people don't even know theres' 2 books and 1 comic in the universe (granted of those only the first one - XCOM 2 Resurrection) is of good quality, the others..
Let's just say I am quite sure writer of Escalation never played X2, and Factions (comic) can be summed up as Call of Duty: XCOM
Loved that last shot of potential Zhang and Annette as geriatric heroes
I wish they had like an Easter egg mission, but I guess nothing stops us from customizing them in Xcom2
@@FratoiuAlex You can. Technically there is a Zhang Voice pack among the mods on the Steam Workshop too. Idk about Annette but if there isn't a voice mod, you can stuck her with any of the French voice lines.
Edit: i found out there is an Annette voice pack mod too, both in English with french accent and Spanish (my region). Sad there isn't a Zhang voice pack in Spanish either.
@SenseiRaisen I guess that's nice. Still a mission would be a bit more interesting
I’ve always thought that the 3 gifted people in the alien battleship are the chosen, as one is a male sniper, being the hunter, another a female assault, being the assassin, and the last one a male support, being the warlock, especially as their dialogue points to them once being human. Also that mission can only happen after the base defence, which adds to my theory.
It makes more sense than the canon explanation.
I have heard of a theory, that Exalt is Xcom.
in short: Enemy Within is a simulation for the commander, where the aliens use the contender's knowledge to hunt down Xcom. All cred goes to Doctor Dex.
I've heard that one too. That all of EW is a simulation while the Commander is in stasis. It's believable, and there are so many odd similarities between what XCOM does with Meld, and what the Elders do with the human/alien splicing. Interesting theory.
@@MiskatonicMemorialist were do you even find theorys? i havent seached for the cominity as i should and by now i dont think i will ever find em
@@ghostblaster115 I think YT swallowed up my previous responce, so:
There's 4 places generally where you can find discussions on XCOM's lore, and which do research the lore further:
1) XCOM reddit
2) Cello's server
3) The Viper pit (server for writers and readers of xcom fics)
4) Warwolf (that's me) / Kektopod's XCOM RP servers
@@warwolf3005 thank you
yes you are right in xcom 2 when the commander is recovered, they extract a chip from his brain when the chip is decrypted the data contain millions of war scenarios where the commander is fighting against the aliens
Very nice video, but I'm surprised you didn't mention the fact that the EXALT bandana is a clothing option in XCOM 2, meaning some of their members joined up with XCOM, even if it's probably a "enemy of my enemy" situation.
I thought about it but those seem more like references than anything concrete. There is also the EW is a simulation theory that explains why Exalt uses those colours.
I'm not entirely convinced XCOM fell during the first base defense based on the commanders memories from XCOM 2's intro during Bradford narration after they broke the commander out it includes the mother ship wich only would have appeared after the overseer ufo got shot down which only would have happened after the base defense and Bradford himself said he hasn't seen an Ethereal since the invasion likely that being the Ethereal that was on the overseer ufo in which during that time Annette and Zhang could have been on board at base I personally believe they got far enough to have the mothership appear but fell not long after as for exalt I think they may have just gone back into hiding since they've clearly been around for a long time as far back as the Spartans I think I'm going off what you can get from the exalt base raid but even with this there is too little information about the original invasion so we can only really theorize but that is the fun part
I believe the Temple Ship showed itself around April in X2 timeline, as to speed up the capture of the world, and finally break the will of the defenders. In Avenger Assemble, Shen points out that they thought "Delta - pattern transport UFOs" (Avenger class) was the largest aliens had, initially (and since Battleships would have been known early on in X2 invasion, the only thing bigger (and not immediately known) is the TS). Bradford's line in opening is also telling "We had no idea what was coming" - as the TS is shown.
My headcannon is that it appeared after some major setback experienced by aliens at the hands of XCOM - which both pissed off Ethereals enough to finally play the full deck and send all the ships into the fray, and to make XCOM - and the Commander a priority target to capture. Possibly it was a loss of a battlship, or something of similar high value to the invaders.
There was no terror mission.
A video about XCOM: 😁
It has a Halo quote at the end: 😱
Finally, someone mentioned that lol
You know, Annette could be one of the Templars and Ghuist could be one of the fresh recruits for the new and still growing psionic trooper program and Annette was the first, but not perfected. While Zhang could have slipped out and manage to survive the initial invasion or meet X-com to be conscripted out of needing people with resourcefulness and skill. In the fog of war and the logs of the old world that is a story for another time.
I remember loving both of these soldiers in my play through of Xcom EW and the missions that came with them and I always loved how Exalt wasn’t directly aligned with the Elders. I really do hope in Xcom 3 they at least elude to some of the events in EW might have happened.
Furies certainly existed in X2 timeline, as there is a rumour called Furies in X2, with the pods with the occupants having been opened, suggesting they escaped and are out of aliens' control.
I think everything in Xcom: Enemy Within is canon including the ending. Realistically the ending is not the end of the war and it's entirely possible that the raid on XCOM HQ was done in a counterattack after the ending. The Volunteer is confirmed alive by a developer so it's entirely possible they were recruited by the Aliens and revealed the location of XCOM HQ.
I also like to think the remnants of EXALT became ADVENT and built an alliance with the Aliens considering ADVENT have a heavy reliance on genetically modified humans and EXALT would obviously love that.
I doubt they became advent but i fo believe that the bad guys in xcom Cimaira squad would be exalt since they do live to do things behind the scenes
I am so glad there's still XCOM lore content around. It really is very intresting universe
This series is great. Binged all of them in one sitting. Have a sub, my dude :)
I always thought Geist of the Templars was the lone psionic operative who blew up the Elder ship and then different Elders invaded
Geist was a soldier with psionic aptitude in XCOM in 2015, who was in the middle of some sort of procedure as the base was attacked, he barely got out, confused and with concussion and memory loss, and scoured the world for some time before founding the Templars.
Funny thing. I have a good friend who's name is Shaojie Zhang. I remember pulling a double take when I saw the name lol.
Exalt doesnt exist:
After the attack on the base, the commander was put into a battle simulator, and run through an untold number of scenarios.
Exalt's similarities to Xcom suggest that, in the simulations, you were actually fighting Xcom, and the simulator made rhem look like Exalt memebers.
Thanks for covering the lore of these characters that don't get alot of attention. As someone who first was introduced to the series via this game. I approached it
And mean while the aliens are using the commanders brain to play XCOM 1
I sure love some xcom lore in the morning!
Not sure what to say, but good luck on future endeavors. Great video and amazing content. ❤
Like always remember I will be watching.
Funny enough I let Annette be on the final mission
Me too. Her, Zhang, and Argentina Heavy from Devils Moon.
@@MiskatonicMemorialist yeah it felt fitting for her to destroy the ship and beat game to as well
I would love to see a BG3 style RPG in the XCom setting.
Love the reference to Halo!
"Folks need heroes, Chief! To give them hope!"
This is pretty awesome! I'm a fan of Xcom's playable characters Like Zhang and Jane ^^
might I recommend checking out RustyDios UFOpedia & Beastiary mod for some other Fans/Modders perspective?
Also is it ok if you can share the character file's on these versions of Annette and Zhang? ^^;;
Honestly, i found sad that there isn't special soldier "Zhang" like happen with Van Doorn or the guy from the Bureau or even the devs, you can change the name of the soldier and automatically everything change like a "hidden cheat".
The only good side is some modders make a Zhang Voice pack mod, and the rest yo can fill in with the ingame customizations so you can match a closer appearance of Zhang in game.
I made my own as a recruitable version of Zhang among the character pool (or one you can have right at the start of the game in Gatecrasher), much older with the same scars, hair and voice (thanks to the voice pack), only difference is he is sporting some round sunglasses because they looks cool on him.
Imagine if theese were in XCOM 2, Zhang could have been the leader of the Templars, it would have done so much for that faction.
Zhang is in X com 2 He's the Mysterious Stranger.
Damn. I wish I got to experience this. I played xcom EW on mobile and apparently this content isn’t in that version (no way to buy DLCs). It would’ve been rly cool to play the mission to free the psi operatives. I was always wondering whether I’d get a mission explaining why the base attack happened and I guess I now have my answer 😅
imagine the reaction of a fan of the game when (after so much suffering) he finished XCOM enemy unknown/within when the second game came out saying that humanity lost in 2 months and none of the events of the previous games were decanonized, making hours of game and lore simply be erased
Great video, If johnson was in xcom the Alien would have surrender.
My headcanon is that Annette joined Xcom but was killed and her 3 compatriots became the Chosen. After all you have 1 shotgun wielding woman, 1 sniper man, and 1 assault rifle wielding support man. Assuming its not a coincidence that the furies were 3 extremely psionically gifted people who's preferred weaponry perfectly lines up to the Chosen, and who were part of a unique experiment the aliens conducted, then the fact that Annette isn't one of them implies she wasn't taken by the aliens on Deluge due to lack of Xcom resistance, but rather died fighting for Xcom.
In fairness i am not sure if there is some tiny tidbit of lore that explains that Annette was captured, but died or became irrelevant, but from what ive read it seems very possible.
I like the theory but there are canon origins to the three Chosen. Warlock was a psionic user who was picked up by the Elders after they won. Hunter was rumoured to be a Reaper who was tortured and brainwashed into becoming the Hunter. And the Assassin was actually created from a combination of the other chosen and the elders. They were more meant to parallel the three resistance factions of Templar, Hunter, and Skirmishers.
@@MiskatonicMemorialist fair enough, I wasn’t aware it was explicitly stated and assumed it was just left vague
Shame exalt didnt have something happen in Xcom 2. Felt like something could have happen.
People with ideas reminscent to X EW exalt (Exploit alien arrival) certainly would have went into Advent structures. Likely some of them worked with the Black Market in X2. Also CS does hint that Exalt 2.0 or similar organization is active after Ethereal's defeat.
Id fight the lost over chrysalids anyday.
my zhang got eaten by a crysalid 😢
Actually, all that stuff DID happen. In the canon, XCOM did win the base assault. XCOM 2 and Chimera Squad are actually 'What if?' scenarios. What if the aliens won? What if the aliens became friendly after defeating the Elders? That's what those two games are, therefore, not canonical.
There is also the theory that in XCOM 2 WotC the 'Furies' have become the Chosen. I mean, if you think about it, it makes sense. There is a video about here on TH-cam, I recommend giving it a watch.
What happened to EXALT afther Xcom 2 ?
Anyone who know the truth is part of xcom or gone.
- Xcom declassified
The only way to not be a puppet is to be the puppet master.
Exalt intention in xcom was to tank the invasion and let the aliens have their fun. Once the dust settle and the aliens runs out of adrenaline Exalt would sweep the aliens with their own weapons.
if you want to live the xcom EW truly experience, play the game on classic difficult, no laser weapons, no plasma weapons, only human weapons, no high armor, only use human technology, and watch how you long survive, oh obviously, no mecha, no psionic powers, why this, in xcom 2 the lore never mentions that xcom never develop that kind of weapons or armors
The xcom 2 templars are ex xcom psi soldiers
@@lalalalalalalalalala-js5xl No you are wrong the templar was a part of the advent but they betrayed them
@@luisromero-mf4gs oh ok but geist was described as an ex xcom soldier with amnesia
XCOM Legends was a bad game, but it did have a bunch of characters, some tying back to XCOM 2 and even EXALT of 1, too bad they didn't explore characters like Zhang and Annette.
Siempre hay esperanza, ánimo a todos para conseguir buenos objetivos, para los malos objetivos la peor de las desesperanzas, pues el Bien triunfará.