Milla Maxwell


 * "Milla" redirects here. For the fractured version of Milla who joins the party in Tales of Xillia 2, see Milla (Fractured).

Milla Maxwell (ミラ＝マクスウェル) is one of two main characters of the game Tales of Xillia. Created as the incarnation of Maxwell, the "Lord of Spirits", Milla controls the Four Great Spirits: Efreet, Undine, Sylph, and Gnome. She holds the duty to protect the world and everything that resides in it. Sensing the death of a great number of spirits, Milla travels to Fennmont to investigate the cause.

Past
Milla was raised in her shrine about an hour away from Nia Khera by Efreet, Undine, Sylph, and Gnome. The four often left her on her own for awhile as they fought Exodus on their own until Milla could handle the responsibility. The young Milla was curious about the cries she could hear from the lesser spirits, and the Great Four eventually explained to her about Exodus and spyrixes. The same day, the four decided to take her with them to an Exodus base on an island north of Leronde. Upon arriving, the 6-year-old Milla was left in the care of Gnome while Efreet, Sylph, and Undine left to investigate. However, she was able to escape Gnome and go exploring. Eventually, she stumbled upon two children, and they played for a bit. Before leaving, they gave her a glass bead, which is the same bead that she would give to Jude Mathis fourteen years later, and brought her to the village. She wandered around and eventually stumbled upon a crying baby, revealed to be Jude, left outside a house. Curious, she played with the child for a bit and calmed him down for a while, but he began crying again and pulled at her hair, causing her to cry as well and run away with him. The two children found themselves in the Exodus base, where she and baby Jude were assaulted by the cries of the lesser spirits. Her desire to protect Jude led to her awakening as Maxwell and summoning the Great Four to her side. They destroyed the base and its spyrixes almost immediately. In the aftermath, Milla reluctantly left baby Jude near a carriage to be found by his parents, but not before leaving him with a kiss on the cheek.

Tales of Xillia
In Milla's arc, she begins her journey traveling from her shrine in Nia Khera to the city of Fennmont, the capital of Rashugal. Sensing the death of many spirits, she investigates the cause and meets Jude Mathis along the way. Entering a research building from underground, they discover human experimentation and the Lance of Kresnik, a weapon of mass destruction that Milla refers to as a "spyrix". Deeming it as the cause for the mass spirit annihilation as well as other threats, Milla attempts to destroy it by summoning the Four Great Spirits when they are interrupted by a mysterious girl in red clothing. After engaging in a fight and defeating the girl, she activates the lance, causing massive mana absorption, consuming the Four Great Spirits leaving Milla powerless. Before the floor collapses under the power of the lance, Milla manages to steal the key required for activation, stopping the machine. Jude saves her from drowning as they fall through the floor into a water reservoir. Leaving the sewers, they are soon apprehended by knights of Rashugal and placed under arrest for treason; however, Alvin, a wandering mercenary appears and saves them as they board a boat and begin their journey to regain Milla's powers and stop the Lance of Kresnik.

Being marked a fugitive along with Jude, Milla finds herself powerless without the aid of the Four Great Spirits. Regardless, she still holds strong to her duty to protect the world. With Jude wanting to follow her since she needs help, and having nowhere to go being a fugitive now, they continue their journey with Alvin. Despite wielding a sword, she has no practical experience, and asks Alvin to train her in basic combat since he is thoroughly experienced being a freelance mercenary, paying him with the rewards of a quest. Milla explains to the party the nature of spyrix. Similar to magitechnology from Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Symphonia, spyrix is a form of technology that is fueled by the power from spirits, ultimately causing their death. Without spirits, life on Rieze Maxia slowly withers away. In particular, the Lance of Kresnik is a weapon of war, adding additional danger to its existence. Reaching the town of Hamil, they are treated to a rather hospitable environment. There, they have a close encounter with knights from Rashugal, before leaving with the aid of Elize Lutus. They arrive at the village of Nia Khera, where a shrine dedicated to Milla is located. The residents all revere Milla, bowing in her presence recognizing her as Maxwell. At her shrine, Milla attempts a ritual to resummon the Four Great Spirits to regain her powers, but the process fails. They conclude that the spirits are still alive and trapped within the Lance of Kresnik, and set their next goal as finding away to release them.

Leaving Nia Khera, the party travels back through Hamil. There, they re-encounter Elize, who is being shunned by the village, completely contrary to the initial welcome they received, blaming her for the arrival of the knights resulting in injuries to the village people. Jude wants to take Elize with the party instead of leaving her there, but Milla initially objects since she would only be a burden to their cause; however, she eventually allows it, showing a more compassionate side to her and Elize joins the party as a non-playable character. Upon reaching Sharilton on their journey, they encounter Driselle Sharil, and her butler, Rowen J. Ilbert. Milla demonstrates her knowledge of Efreet as they meet Driselle in a market place where she is picking out a tea set. The shop owner claims the set was created to the liking of Efreet with his emblem, but Milla explains otherwise, describing Efreet's own tastes along with Rowen noting the date of creation, being younger than the last time Efreet was summoned. Despite the fraud, Driselle purchases the set, taking a liking to its appearance, and invites the party to her home later as a sign of goodwill for the help Milla provided.

Soon, Milla and Elize are kidnapped by the Rashugal army and taken to the Fort Gandala where they finally meet King Nachtigal Fenn. After a brief confrontation, Milla's legs become paralyzed, caused by an explosive trap wall. Jude takes her to Leronde and with the help of his childhood friend Leia Rolando, restore the use of Milla's legs using a painful aspyrixis device and a long period of rehabilitation. The party then decides to infiltrate Fennmont by other means, mainly by flying there with wyverns found in Auj Oule. As they meet the king of Auj Oule, Gaius, it is revealed that a war between the two countries in nearing and that the party must rush to Fennmont to stop Nachtigal. But as they travel there and defeat the king, they soon realize that the Lance of Kresnik has been taken away from the palace. They head to the battlefield to stop the Lance and the war once and for all. But the Lance is fired despite their efforts and is revealed to not being as a weapon, but a tool to destroy the schism surrounding Rieze Maxia. As the party head to stop the invading Elympios army ontop their flagship E.S.S. Zenethra, Milla sacrifices her mana, and her life, to save Jude and his friends from a deadly trap. It is later revealed by Muzét that she was not the real Maxwell, but only a part of the Lord of Spirits acting as a bait to destroy the remaining Elympios troops in Rieze Maxia, Exodus.

Milla's soul is taken to be reborn like all other humans, but the Four Great Spirits intervene due to how close they became in the last twenty years. The Milla that they rescue is nothing but a shell at this point, lacking both personality and memories. The Four Great Spirits know that their lives are now forfeit because they have disobeyed the true Maxwell, so they decide to travel with Milla as she wanders into familiar landscapes, including Hamil and the Aladhi Seahaven, and discovers that she is being hunted for the sin of false reincarnation. At the Seahaven, Milla dreams of Jude and is told the truth of what the Four Great Spirits did, so she returns Nia Khera, where they are confronted by Muzét. The Four Great Spirits give themselves up to reincarnated while telling Milla that she is now free to be anyone without being bound by the name "Milla Maxwell". She is unable to let it go and follows them to her shrine, where she confronts and defeats Muzét after the Four declare their allegiance to Milla as opposed to Maxwell. They then obtain a light orb that contains Milla's memories, which they use on the Nia Khera Hallowmont. There, Milla witnesses Jude and the group's struggle against Maxwell in the Temporal Crossroads and incarnates herself in a physical body, helping to first break Maxwell's barrier and then defeat him. Afterward, Milla and Jude manage to convince Maxwell to drop the schism, but Gaius and Muzét refuse to let them, so they are blown into Elympios.

In Elympios, Milla takes in the plight of a resource-starved world dependent on spyrix to function. As they travel and behold the world, Jude figures out that Milla died and returned as a spirit based on the fact that the aspyrixis is no longer functioning. Milla confirms this fact, acknowledging that her time in the human realm is now limited. This fact does not slow them when they are challenged by Gaius and Muzét over the future of the two worlds: whether to place their faith in a future of spyrite technology that mirrors spyrix without their spirit-killing downside, which Jude, Milla, and their group advocate, or Gaius and Muzét's plan to uphold the schism until Elympios dies out. The party confronts Gaius and Muzét in the Temporal Crossroads, where they defeat the pair and then convince them to view things their way.

In the end, with all parties united in purpose, Maxwell dispels the schism and disappears. Milla ascends to the position of Maxwell and the Lord of Spirits, leaving for the Spirit Realm and keeping watch over all humans and spirits.

Appearance and Personality
Milla holds her duty of protecting the world above all else. She states that it is synonymous with the name Maxwell, being the lord of all spirits that it is her responsibility to protect all living things. She shows a strong determination to play her role despite losing the power of the four great spirits early in the story. She shows that she is willing to go to any lengths to uphold her duty, at many points risking her very life to accomplish this. At first, she even shows disregard for people if it were for the greater good, but after spending time with the party, she learns a greater appreciation for individual life.

Having lived twenty years together with the Four Great Spirits, she has had little human contact except with her worshipers in Nia Khera. Her knowledge of human behavior stems from what she has read in books, leading her to have many odd mannerisms. In particular, she heeds no mind to her rather light attire, claiming that it is comfortable and easy to move in, despite Jude's initial discomfort. Milla frequently muses at the behavior that makes humans "human", giving a lot of insight to Jude as they journey together. Milla shows a rather deep fondness of food, not knowing the delight of eating for the first twenty years of her life. She is often caught drooling while any food subjects are mentioned.

Fighting Style
Milla wields a traditional sword like many Tales protagonists. Her stats gained from the Lilium Orb are rather balanced with a slight focus on intelligence and strength. Her physical artes mainly consist of close range attacks that use the blade of her sword or short range magic projectiles. She can also summon the four great spirits to do quick attacks, unlike other Tales games where spirits are used like spells and require an incantation time. Though the "Magic Stance" skill, she can trade her quick melee slashes for a slower style consisting of ranged light strikes.

Her unique "Spirit Shift" (魔技) special ability allows her to use close range elemental attacks that take the place of her spirit magic when the "artes" button is not held down. Milla has Spirit Magic of elements from the four great spirits but focuses more on fire and wind, as well as having access to lightning, a combination of fire and wind, and light magic. She can be played as an offensive spell caster or as a melee attacker. Her spirit-shifted artes allow for fast elemental damage, compared to spirit artes that requires incantation time but covers wide areas.

Milla excels more in aerial combat, exemplified by her many aerial skills that allow for better mobility and damage while in midair. Almost all of her artes have aerial enabled with quick speed to allow combos to be easily performed. Milla's partner skill is "Bind" (バインド). While Milla is the secondary partner, any time the monster targeted by the primary partner is stunned, she will bind them with a magic circle, disabling the target while the former is free to attack. Milla is best utilized against Speed-type monsters who are too fast to hit easily.

Tales of Innocence R
Milla appears as a coliseum cameo battle in Tales of Innocence R.

Tales of the Heroes: Twin Brave
Milla appears as a playable character in Tales of the Heroes: Twin Brave, along with Jude.

Tales of the World: Reve Unitia
Milla appears as a playable character in Tales of the World: Reve Unitia, along with Jude.

Tales of Asteria
Milla appears as a playable character in Tales of Asteria and has her own storyline in the "Star Fragments" and "Savior of Light and Darkness" chapters of the game.

Trivia

 * Mila is a name of Slavic origin meaning grace or favor.
 * A plushie resembling Milla in her Tales of Xillia outfit appears in Tales of Xillia 2. A save from Tales of Xillia is required on the system.
 * Milla's Tales of Xillia 2 outfit is set to appear as a DLC costume for Rose in Tales of Zestiria. It will cost 300 yen.
 * A plushie resembling Milla in her Tales of Xillia outfit is set to appear in Tales of Zestiria. A save from Tales of Xillia is required on the system.