As part of the latest Nintendo Direct, Super Smash Bros Ultimate has unveiled their newest fighters, Pyra and Mythra. While fans of the Xenoblade Chronicles series might be familiar with these two sword-wielding women, many others are likely scratching their heads. To be fair, their story is quite long and complicated and will require some context to better understand.
The first Xenoblade Chronicles takes place on an unnamed world of endless oceans, aside from the bodies of two colossal titans that once battled each other but then suddenly froze in place. The organic titan Bionis became a home for the human-like Homs, the Nopon, the High Entia and other organic life forms. The other titan, Mechonis, is a machine god, completely opposite to Bionis, and has come to be the home to other machine races known as the Mechon and the Machina. Like their respective titans, these organic and machine civilizations have fought each other in wars for eons.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 takes place in a similar world of endless oceans and fallen titans, except that it’s called Alrest. This is the world in which Pyra, Mythra and their Driver Rex originate from. In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Blades are weaponized lifeforms linked to a Driver, endowing them a weapon and powers.
One day, a man known as Amalthus traveled to a fabled paradise atop the World Tree called Elysium. Returning from his trip, he brought with him two Aegis Core Crystals. Aegis are powerful Blades born from the Cores of the Trinity Processor, a vast collection of artificial intelligences. When he awoke one of these Crystals, it created a being called Malos, who linked to him as a Driver, beginning an attack on Alrest. But Malos soon freed himself from Amalthus, who then decided to activate the second Crystal to stop Malos. Awakened, this Aegis took the form of Mythra and would lead a campaign to stop Malos in what would be referred to as the Aegis War. Despite defeating Malos, Mythra felt immense guilt for the destruction she unleashed in the war, leading her to create an alternate personality and “sister” called Pyra, who share consciousness but possess different abilities. They were then sealed away until someone worthy of being her new Driver would appear.
It wouldn’t be until 500 years after the war that Pyra would awaken with the help of a boy named Rex, who became her new Driver. From here, and later with the help of a reawakened Mythra, they would go on a journey to find the fabled Elysium to stop Malos again and save humanity from their dying world of Alrest. At the end of their journey, Pyra and Mythra are reborn as separate entities in their own bodies, no longer having to transform from one to the other.
As you can see, Pyra and Mythra are technically the same person, albeit as an all-powerful Aegis being. Pyra is kind-hearted, well-mannered and soft-spoken to others but sometimes doubts her abilities. Mythra, on the other hand, has a short temper and can be rude at times. While confident in her abilities, Mythra views herself as a danger to others from the destruction she caused in the past. Despite their differences, both are committed to the greater good of saving Alrest and humanity from destruction, even if it requires sacrificing their own lives.
In Smash Bros Ultimate, players can switch between Mythra and Pyra in battle when playing as this new fighter. It is also shown that Rex is part of their Final Smash move. They are planned to be released in March as part of the Fighters Pass Vol. 2, which also includes Min Min from ARMS, Steve & Alex from Minecraft, and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII.