Morag Ladair

“	I get the feeling that, if I stay near that boy, I might bear witness to something quite extraordinary.	„
	~ Mòrag, about Rex.

Morag Ladair is one of the characters of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. She is the Special Inquisitor of the Ardainian Empire. She is a Driver and is accompanied by her Blade, Brighid. She is called the "Flamebringer" (or "Radiant Young Noblewoman of Flame , Honō no ki kōshi in the Japanese release) and is known as the best Driver of the whole Ardainian Empire serving the Emperor Niall, who is her younger brother. She joins the party at the end of Chapter 4. Niall later grants Mòrag Aegaeon's Core Crystal after deciding he is unfit to be a Driver, she is the only member to drive him.

She was voiced by Mitsuki Saiga in the Japanese version, and by Kirsty Mitchell in the English version.

Background[]

Mòrag Ladair was raised to be the next Empress of Mor Ardain and this resulted in her bonding with Brighid's Core Crystal. She was all set until her cousin Niall was born meaning he took priority instead. As a result Mòrag had to settle with being Niall's Special Inquisitor. This meant she was responsible for the Emperor's safety and the annexing of Gormott, resulting in her meeting Rex and the Aegis.

Overview[]

Morag is the special inquisitor of the Empire of Mor Ardain as well as the cousin of Emperor Niall Ardanach even though they both consider each other as siblings. She is also refered as the "Flamebringer" by the Ardainian military due to the fact that she is the Driver of Brighid, a Blade passed down the imperial royal family.

Personality[]

Mòrag is a straightforward person who is very dedicated in her job. As Special Inquisitor, she is highly respected within the Empire and outside of it. As a hardened veteran of battle, she seems offended when Rex holds back against her in battle. During her time as an enemy, she is simply seeking to protect the world from Pyra's threat and later deal with the incidents involving Lila, for which she initially suspects Poppi. Likewise, Morag is very proud of her skills and abilities, as she declares that they are “the culmination of years of training”.

Story[]

Morag serves as the Empire of Mor Ardain's Special Inquisitor, a role that, in the past, was assigned to recover the Core Crystals of Brighid and Aegaeon should their Driver fall in battle. When Emperor Hugo fell in battle protecting Addam from the destruction of the Torna Titan's Core Crystal 500 years ago during the Aegis War, the Special Inquisitor was given the Core Crystals for safe keeping to return them to Mor Ardain. 500 years later, while Aegaeon now serves the current Emperor, Niall, Morag has Brighid serving her as her Blade in her role as the current Special Inquisitor.

Their first encounter with Mythra, as Brighid remembered her from the Aegis War, is when they encounter Rex and Pyra, Mythra's "sister", after luring them out with a trap by capturing former Torna organization member Nia and her Blade, Dromarch. Though the plan fails thanks to Tora and his artificial Blade Poppi, Brighid is satisfied with the results as she knows that Morag will encounter Rex and his group again in the future.

When they encounter Rex and his group again, they mistake Poppi for another artificial Blade named Lila. Agreeing to a temporary truce until they find the real culprit, Morag and Brighid work with Rex, Pyra, and the others until they find the true suspects in Mikhail and Patroka, members of Malos and Jin's Torna group. Before they can be overpowered by the Torna members, Fan la Norne arrives and drives them off. After that, Morag and Brighid join Rex and his group on their journey.

Indol, under Praetor Amalthus, offers to broker a peace summit between Mor Ardain and the Kingdom of Uraya to prevent a war from breaking out. Morag attends with Emperor Niall, but Argentum Trade Guild Chairman Bana tries to ruin the summit by murdering everyone present. Niall nearly dies protecting everyone when Bana attempts suicide with his Giga Rosa, but Nia is able to save him. Afterwards, Niall entrusts Aegaeon to Morag to use on her journey with Rex, Mythra, and the others.

After what happened with Bana, Morag continues to aid Rex on his adventures, until Pyra surrenders herself to Torna to protect Rex and the others from Jin. Though Rex then decides to give up and go back to Argentum in defeat, Morag and the others snap him out of it and convince him to help Pyra. Traveling to the location of the third Aegis Sword, Nia reveals herself to be a Flesh Eater Blade, but also makes it so Rex is awarded the sword by Addam's spirit. Upon confronting Malos after he regained his own Aegis powers as Logos, Rex is able to become the Master Driver by offering to take on Pyra and Mythra's burdens himself, unlocking their true form of Pneuma. However, Malos gains control of Artifice Ophion, and sends everyone into the Land of Morytha.

Agreeing to a temporary alliance with Jin, they start making their way back up the World Tree, only to be confronted by Amalthus, deciding to deal with all of them himself by taking control of both Blades and Titans, including the ones home to the Empire of Mor Ardain and Kingdom of Uraya. In the end, Jin sacrifices himself to slay Amalthus once and for all, while Rex and the others continue up to stop Malos. Reaching the space station at the top and meeting the Architect, Klaus, he permits them to go after Malos and stop him from using the Artifice Aion to destroy Alrest. Thanks to their teamwork, Rex and his party are able to wear Malos and Aion down to where Rex and Pneuma deliver a mortal blow to Aion, which also fatally wounds Malos. In his dying breaths, he exchanges some final words with Rex before dissolving for good. However, Klaus passes away as well, causing the Conduit to shut down, threatening to cause the World Tree to fall on Alrest. Pneuma directs the gang to what she says is a control room to change the course of the station, but it is really the escape pods, as she intends to use Aion to destroy the station, killing herself in the process. Despite Rex wanting to join her in her final moments, no one is willing to help him, as Pneuma made them promise not to interfere in her decision. After Rex is entrusted with Pneuma's complete Core Crystal, he reluctantly retreats to an escape pod with Morag and the others and evacuates the station.

However, as Pneuma activates Aion's self-destruct and dies with the station's destruction, debris from the explosion damages the escape pod, causing it to break up. However, Azurda is able to return to his full Titan form to save everyone and fly them to the new landmass that the other Titans were uniting with, as a final gift to humanity from Klaus. As everyone heads to the new landmass, Pneuma's Core Crystal suddenly awakens again, and revives Pyra and Mythra in separate bodies, allowing them to be with Rex again, and earn their happy ending.