Shania

The future doesn't belong to you! For those who have not completed games in the Xenoblade Chronicles series, this page contains spoilers regarding the plot. Discretion is advised.

"What's so natural about the life you want? A life you only get one shot at? At any point, someone could come along and tell you "OK, that's it, time to go!"... It's madness wanting a world like that! The best world for us... is a world that at least gives us another go! We fail, we try again! We might do even better next time round!"

— Shania

Shania Reid (Japanese: シャナイア・リード Shanaia Rīdo) is a character in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. She was designed by Masatsugu Saito, the lead character designer of the game.

Overview[]

She served as a soldier for the Lost Numbers under the command of Monica Vandham. Tasked by the latter, she followed the party, completely oblivious of her presence, to monitor and report back their actions after the activation of the Ouroboros Stone by Guernica Vandham in Alfeto Valley. She is formally introduced alongside with Monica and the Lost Numbers when the party reaches Swordmarch and escorts them to the City.

She is descended from Panacea, and very likely Sharla and possibly Reyn by extension.

Appearance[]

Shania is a young girl who is rather short despite being of adult age. She has fair skin, green eyes and light brown hair, worn in near shoulder-length twintails with her front bangs pinned back and held together with a hair clip. Her clothing consists of a cropped open vest, mini skirt and forearm guards that have a green military camouflage pattern and red strokes. Underneath, Shania has a skintight black, sleeveless, midthigh one-piece suit that also have matching red lines. In addition, she wears black, long sleeve fingerless arm gloves with red accents and dark colored combat boots with a rectangular metal piece on the toe tip.

Shania's Blade is a revolver-like pistol, a weapon that once belonged to her late sister, Titania.

Story[]

Background[]

"I'd known Shania since she was little. I always felt bad that she was being compared to her sister, Titania...but I was always told to mind my own business. I could see how tough it was to be a kid from the Six Houses. I should have tried to do more..."

— Playne

Shania was born into one of the six founding houses of the City, House Reid, known for its emphasis on honor and status. Growing up, she was close friends with Ghondor, a member of House Vandham. From a young age, Shania aspired to follow in the footsteps of her father and Ghondor's grandfather, Guernica Vandham, and become a hero who would protect the City and be respected and admired by her peers.

However, her true passion was painting, something that both her father and Ghondor recognized and encouraged her to pursue. With the passing of her sister Titania, who was considered the family's pride, Shania was tasked with fulfilling the family's expectations and adopted her sister's Blade as her own to carry on the Reid's legacy.

With the loss of her father, Shania lost a crucial source of support that prioritized her happiness over the family's reputation. Left alone with her critical and demanding mother, who never seemed satisfied with her efforts, Shania struggled to live up to her mother's impossibly high expectations and earn her approval. Despite her persistent efforts to impress her mother and make her proud, she was never able to find success and the constant disappointment from her mother took a toll on Shania's self-esteem and left her feeling unsupported and alone.

As the Reid household's sole heir, Shania focused all of her attention on making it as one of the six candidates for the Ouroboros selection test but failed several times. She tried to emulate Ghondor, even copying her weapon and boxing bandages, believing it would help her succeed. This in turn frustrated Ghondor, as she did not like seeing Shania mimicking her and not being true to herself.

Ghondor tried to steer Shania back to her passions and true self, but her advice came across as harsh and unsympathetic. Shania took Ghondor's words as a personal rejection and became fixated on proving her superiority to her friend. As Shania's obsession grew, Ghondor eventually gave up trying to reach her, feeling that her message was falling on deaf ears. The two grew distant and their friendship began to deteriorate.

Despite all her efforts and struggles, she only managed to make it to eighth place out of 100 candidates. Though initially pleased with her accomplishment, her mother's disdain for not being selected as one of the top six shattered her self-esteem, leading her to abandon her love for painting, destroying her artwork and supplies in her bitter frustration.

Awakening of the Ouroboros[]

Shania eventually became convinced that the endless war of Aionios and the promise of being reborn in a clone body after death was preferable to a future in which people like herself supposedly wouldn't be able to live in peace, and was persuaded by X to submit to her jealousy and despair; she started spying on the Lost Numbers, eventually having a Flame Clock installed and openly betraying the party and the City to the Consuls. Following the defeat of N at Agnus Castle and the revelation that the City evaded its supposed destruction, she shoots herself.

Becoming Moebius[]

Sometime later, Shania is resurrected and reawakens in a pool of water as Consul S (Japanese: エス, Esu). She is greeted by X, who welcomes her into their ranks and shows her an image of Ghondor in the water's reflection, encouraging her to take revenge on the "faker" in what would be her first and only Moebius mission. She attacks the City by freezing it in time so she can arrange its citizens as her "art" in a second attempt to destroy it, drawing the attention of Ghondor and the party at the Great Sword's Hilt the City's former location. She then attempts to execute Ouroboros herself to avenge her first failure at Agnus Castle, but Noah uses Lucky Seven to stave off her freezing. Sena, Ghondor, and their allies defeat her, and she realizes that her friends and father genuinely appreciated her supposedly useless talent as she dies. Subsequently, while the party mourns her at the Remembrance Stones, her mother arrives and shows no remorse for her passing, condemning her for dying as a mortal enemy of the City; this prompts Ghondor to verbally offend her, only to see her own mother, Monica, grab Shania's mother by the shoulder and glare at her with scorn, prompting her in turn to flee.

Personality[]

In her first appearance, Shania comes off as aloof and even somewhat impassive yet is helpful in assisting the main characters by guiding them to the City. She starts off as being soft-spoken and expresses very little in emotions in her introduction, with her face either having an indifferent or sullen expression.

Because of the contempt she had for her own life, the concept of being in the endless cycle where one can be reborn after death and have a reset in life should their life end in failure appealed greatly to Shania. Joining in the endless cycle, where one is given another chance at life, enticed Shania to betray the Lost Numbers and join Moebius. Even going so far as betraying the entire City in a move that almost certainly would have destroyed her homeland and cause genocide to her people.

After revealing her betrayal to the group and thwarting their plan to escape the Li Garte Prison Camp, Shania's personality shows a shift into a more abrasive, callous, wrathful and maniacal one, contrasting starkly from how she previously conducted herself. Her voice becomes more aggressive and dramatic and she laughs maniacally while gloating when she believes she has the upper hand against Ghondor and the heroes. As the Annihilator fired on Swordmarch, she showed no remorse. Shania also showed the same remorselessness when attacking the City directly on her first and only Moebius mission. When the situation turns against her, she becomes unhinged and paranoid.

A deeper look into Shania reveals the root of her struggles are a deep-seated sense of low self-esteem, a feeling of loneliness, and a constant yearning for validation and approval from others, particularly from her mother and Ghondor.

Before her father's death, Shania, while still a timid and fragile person, was happier thanks in part to her father's support and encouragement of her artistic pursuits. However, after her father's passing, Shania was left alone with her mother, who placed a higher value on the reputation of the household name than on her daughter's happiness and well-being. This lack of emotional support and affection from her mother compounded Shania's feelings of misery and worthlessness.

In addition to these personal challenges, Shania was also grappling with the immense pressure of being the sole heir to the Reid household following the death of her sister Titania. She was described as "the pitiable child of a downtrodden house," and her misery was only exacerbated as she failed to live up to her mother's overly high expectations. Despite her own personal achievements, such as placing eighth in the Ouroboros selection test, Shania's mother would destroy her enthusiasm by never being satisfied and only seeing disappointment. Her mother constantly compared her to others who were more successful, particularly Ghondor, further damaging Shania's self-esteem and confidence. This in turn led Shania into giving up her love for painting, likely seeing it as a useless activity that distracted her from becoming an Ouroboros candidate. It would also contribute to the straining of her relationship with former childhood friend and would push Shania to harbor intense jealousy and spite towards Ghondor. This jealously pushed her into an obsession of wanting to prove superiority over Ghondor.

Shania's struggles are mirrored in Sena, who also struggles with loneliness and a desire for approval from others. Like Shania did with Ghondor, Sena latches onto someone more popular, talented and admired, in her case Mio, in the hopes of receiving approval and succeeding. Both Mio and Ghondor try to encourage Sena and Shania to be themselves rather than imitate others, but their approaches differ significantly. Mio takes a more supportive and compassionate approach, while Ghondor adopts a harsh and brusque "tough love" approach that ultimately pushes Shania into resentment and a self-destructive obsession with surpassing her former friend. Ultimately, Shania's struggles and demise illustrates to Sena what her life could have been like if she had not had the support of a friend like Mio and serves as a poignant reminder to her of the importance of finding one's own identity.

Shania is also paralleled with Joran, as Lanz points out. Both were artistically talented and not meant for warfare, but were denied the chance to pursue their passion because the world they lived in would not allow such. In addition, both Shania and Joran despaired their respective lives due to the lack of choice they were given, which pushed them into joining Moebius. They were perfect candidates for Z's vision of a world for the "meek and frail" who cannot choose, where there would be no losers as they would eventually become a "winner," given enough lifetimes until meeting a desired outcome, unaware that they would be given no such thing so long as Moebius prevented them from choosing.

Affinity Links[]

Shania	Be true to yourself	Ghondor

Shania	Lost Numbers	Jansen

			initially
Shania	Sympathy	Jansen

Battle[]

Moebius S (Japanese: メビウス・エス, Mebiusu Esu) is a Quest Exclusive Boss. She is a Moebius who is fought at level 55 in Virid Park in the City during Side Story: Sena.

Resistances[]

Break	75%	Topple	0%
Daze	0%	Burst	0%
Launch	0%	Smash	0%
Knockback	90%	Blowdown	90%
Phys. Debuffs	50%	Ether Debuffs	Immune

Enraged[]

Trigger	Enemy is reduced to 50% HP.
Effects	Boosts damage dealt by 25 percentage points.

Arts[]

The following Arts can be used in battle:

Name	Attribute	Targets	Hits	Power	Reactions/Statuses	Notes	Use Conditions	Cooldown
Auto-Attack	Physical	Single Target	2	150%			Anytime	2s
Animus Shout	Buff	Self	-	-	Resets Aggro / Power Charge		Below 65% HP, after using 2nd Stasis Command Typically used immediately after Stasis Command	5s
Mad Shot	Ether	Single Target	4	600%		Boost accuracy by 50%	Anytime	12s
Nexus Slice	Physical	AOE around user	3	130%		Boosts critical rate by 20%	Anytime	12s
							Below 65% HP, after using 2nd Stasis Command	5s
Pain Wedge	Ether	Frontward AOE	1	175%	Bleed / Knockback	Boosts accuracy by 25% / Boosts Bleed damage by 200%	Anytime	30s
Piercing Hatred	Physical	Frontward AOE	2	240%	Launch	Forced Launch. Boosts accuracy by 50% and critical rate by 20% Extends Launch duration by 50%	Below 80%, after using 1st Stasis Command	18s
Stasis Command	Debuff	AOE around user	1	-	Moebius Shackles	6m radius and 0% initial recharge	Above 65% HP	5s
						6m radius and 100% initial recharge	Below 65% HP, 1st Stasis Command used
						10m radius and 100% initial recharge	Below 25% HP, 2nd Stasis Command used
						50m radius and 100% initial recharge Extends duration by 200%	Below 5% HP, 3rd Stasis Command used

Quotes[]

Boss[]

• "What do you know about me?!"
• "You're in my way!" (Nexus Slice)
• "Here you go!" (Mad Shot)
• "Ghondor; I'm going to destroy you and become the real thing!"
• "What is this?!"
• "I'll break everything!"
• "Hahahahaa! What do you think of me now?!"
• "Don't touch me!"
• "How could this happen?!"
• "Ghondor. GHONDOR!"
• "I'll show you this time!" (Stasis Command)
• "I'M THE REAL DEAL!"
• "I did it... I actually did it!"
• "You're getting on my last nerve, Ouroboros!"
• "I'll carve you up! Piercing Hatred!"
• "Point to me!"

Etymology[]

Her name is of Native American origin, believed to be Ojibwa, meaning "I'm on my way." It is also a variant of "Shaina" of Yiddish origin, which means "beautiful."

Trivia[]

• Shania and Z are the only Consuls who are never seen wearing a helmet or mask of any kind, as well as the only Consuls never shown to command a Colony of either Keves or Agnus.
• Shania shares notable similarities to Hammer from Xenogears, a character who starts off as an ally assisting the main characters but betrays them during their attempts to make an escape (in Xenogears, the party wants to escape from Solaris, a draconian society, while in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, the party wants escape from a prison camp). Both characters suffer from jealousy and a feeling of inadequacy and both characters die regretting their choices.
• Since she wears her eyepatch on her right-eye, this implies that Shania is of Kevesi origin, and it is revealed in Future Redeemed that her house's founder was from the world of the Bionis.
• "A Life Woven Together" plays during both of Shania's deaths.
• In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, the number seven is thematic and is frequently referenced, both in obvious and subtle form. Meanwhile, the number eight resembles the Moebius Strip, or the infinite loop symbol. Shania making eighth place in the Ouroboros selection test is likely a reference to this as she eventually joins Moebius after being revived even with the Flame Clock. After she dies her second death as a Moebius, she is gone forever.
• After completing Side Story: Sena, if the party visits the Remembrance Stones with Monica as the current Hero, she will have a unique dialogue about Shania's death, saying: "Shania… We can't leave your name here, but… Your desires, your hopes… We'll shoulder them for you." Additionally, when playing as Sena when facing off against X in the Origin Interior, if Side Story: Sena has been completed, X will taunt Sena in a cheeky manner by inquiring about Shania's wellbeing. Sena retorts by refusing to disclose any information about Shania.

Gallery[]

Artwork[]

In-Game Renders[]

Shania's Paintings[]

Screenshots[]

Characters in Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Ouroboros	Noah · Mio · Lanz · Eunie · Sena · Taion
Heroes	Ethel · Valdi · Zeon · Teach · Riku & Manana · Gray · Isurd · Juniper · Ashera · Alexandria · Monica · Fiona · Triton · Ghondor · Miyabi · Cammuravi · Segiri · Nia · Melia · Ino · Masha · Shulk · Rex
Keves	Mwamba · Joran · Garvel · Hoope · Layla · Kite · Ethel · Bolearis · Crys · Queen of Keves · Melia
Agnus	Hackt · Cammuravi · Isurd · Nimue · Queen of Agnus · Nia
Lost Numbers	Guernica Vandham · Monica · Travis · Ghondor · Samon · Shania · Aggy · Oggy · Jansen · Kryto · Olive · Cyma · Nissick · Kisame · Masha
Consuls	B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z